


Golden Girl (the world is yours)

by mountain-ash and rusted iron (xAmazonWarriorx)



Series: Golden Girl 'verse [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Butterfly Effect, Canonical Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Dudley Dursley Has a Sibling, Dysfunctional Family, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Harm to Children, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Inter-House Friendships, Homework, Magical Blood Prejudice, Original Character-centric, Pureblood Culture (Harry Potter), Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Thea's presence changes a lot of tiny things, i swear this is happy story despite all these tags, lots of hogwarts inter-house feels in general tbh, realism in the form of schoolwork, some shit happens but mostly the focus is on how they all adjust to hogwarts and make friends, the Dursleys should not have children at all let's be real here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23389762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xAmazonWarriorx/pseuds/mountain-ash%20and%20rusted%20iron
Summary: Dorothea Dursley is her parents' golden child, the perfect daughter... until she's not.Her Hogwarts letter arrives in the hands of a professor, welcoming one of their latest Muggleborn students, and everything turns upside down. Petunia is shocked that her lovely, normal daughter carries magic in her veins, Vernon didn't sign up for his darling girl to be revealed as a freak, and Dudley is jealous that his twin is suddenly the centre of attention.And Harry is surprised when he suddenly has a companion in pariahship, a cousin who barely gave him the time of day before.Dorothea's charmed life is over, and she watches as her family begins to break apart.
Relationships: Dudley Dursley & Harry Potter, Dudley Dursley & Original Character(s), Harry Potter & Original Character(s), Minor or Background Relationship(s), Original Character(s) & Other(s)
Series: Golden Girl 'verse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1707958
Comments: 9
Kudos: 26





	1. Charmed Life

**Author's Note:**

> what is UP!?  
> im fully posting this just to motivate myself, so it's unbetaed and such
> 
> dorothea is an oc. she's dudley's twin sister, born a whole nine minutes earlier. so petunia and vernon had their two perfect kids the first time, completed the set, collected them all, whatever, and then bam! they get harry on their doorstep. and like, kids are expensive, they're bitter. but also they're too busy with their biological bubs to be overly shitty to harry so we'll see how that develops maybe
> 
> but bascially, what if the dusleys had to deal with their perfect kiddos being... different (*gasp*)

Dorothea Dursley was not expecting the smartly-dressed stranger waiting outside when she opened the door. She was, in fact, expecting Rosie, or maybe Sarita, asking if she wanted to come play at their house. 

Thankfully, the stranger introduced himself before she had to do anything.

“Good afternoon. You must be young Dorothea. I’d like to offer you a place at my school. Are your parents home?”

“Muuuuum! There’s someone at the door.”

Her mum came out of the kitchen, dusting flour off her hands.

“Can I help y-”

Petunia froze. Dorothea looked at the man again, trying to work out what had surprised her mum. His skin was a warm golden-brown, and he had dark, curly hair, just like Sarita’s. He was wearing an ill-fitting navy blue suit. And he was… twirling a polished stick between his fingers? What?

Mum's face was oddly neutral. And she spoke in the voice she usually reserved for talking about Harry.

“You must be here for the boy. You’d better come inside,” her tone softened, “Dorothea, go to your room, I’ll come and get you later.”

_What? But this was interesting! She wanted to talk to the mysterious man._

“Muuuuuuum,” Thea whined.

“Dorothea.” Petunia’s tone was firm. It said ‘don’t make me tell you off in front of _company_ , young lady’.

“Ugh, fine.”

Dorothea turned and stomped off up the stairs. She slammed her bedroom door and flopped down onto her duvet.

⌘

A few moments later, Thea got up and slipped out of her room. She snuck lightly down the stairs, stepping on the outside edges of the steps where they didn’t creak, and put her ear to the keyhole. She could hear a muffled conversation, but she couldn’t make out _anything_ they were saying.

⌘

Thea squinted through the tiny hole. Mum was sat on her favorite armchair, the one with the floral pattern, and facing stiffly towards the mystery man. He was sitting on another armchair, cup of tea untouched. Mum was talking, but Thea couldn’t hear what she was saying. The stranger started speaking. Thea tried to read the man's lips. It was difficult to understand when she was getting less than half the conversation, but it seemed he was part of some fancy school, and they wanted her. Something about being special, and for some reason a mention of a shopping trip accompanied by another teacher...or something? It was all a bit garbled. 

Dorothea watched further for several long minutes, but nothing else became clear, so she decided to quit while she was ahead. Thea flitted back up the stairs and threw herself down on her bed. What on _earth_ was going on?

⌘

She was going to St. Winifreds - Dad had completed all the paperwork for St. Winifreds as early as possible - her acceptance had been confirmed _months_ ago. But that man acted like she hadn’t been accepted to whatever school he was from. So was he from somewhere else? And it wasn’t it a little late for recruitment visits. It was only a few weeks until the start of term.

Dorothea grabbed her book from the bedside table and tried to settle down and read.  
Thoughts continued to swirl into her head. The man had known her name, but her mum had clearly thought he was here fo- for Harry. Dorothea didn’t want to be compared to that _freak_ , or even thought about in the same sentence. He slept in his dusty cupboard and he was _weird_ and no one liked him. She frowned to herself.

⌘

Mum knocked.

“Dorothea, darling? Could you come downstairs, sweetheart?” her tone sounded strained.

Thea frowned. Her mum was worried. Why would a simple professor’s visit cause this much drama?

“Coming, Mum.”

She dropped her book back on her pillow and bounced up.

⌘

In the living room, nothing became much clearer. Petunia’s eyes were red, as if she had been crying. The professor sat back with a carefully neutral expression on his face as he introduced himself as Professor Black, teacher of Alchemy, and explained that she was _magic._  


“But there’s no such thing!”, Dorothea exclaimed in disbelief. And continued to disbelieve, right up until Professor Black neatly levitated his teacup with a swish and flick of his polished stick.

Thea learned that it actually his _wand_ , and that he was a wizard, and she would be a _witch._  


But… she was going to St. Winifred’s, with Rosie and Delilah. And Dudley would be right next door at Smeltings. She didn’t want to go to some weird magic school.  
So she told her Mum. And was told no. 

“I’m sorry, darling. You must go to Hogwarts, it’s a law. And if I say no they could take you anyway.”

Dorothea’s whining cut off abruptly.

“They could _take_ me? No, I don’t wanna go!” 

She was about two seconds away from stamping her foot, as if that would help, when Professor Black cut in.

“Mrs. Dursley, young Miss Dursley. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to learn to control your magic and use it safely. There are no other choices, I’m afraid.”

Thea pouted. Maybe she could get Mum to ignore this weird man if she changed the topic? It was better than nothing, right?

“Wait, Mum? What were you saying about Harry earlier?”

“Uh, the thing is, honey. Harry is magic too. He’ll go to Hogwarts this autumn as well.”

“What? But I don’t want him too. He’s _weird_.”

“Well, all students are accepted at Hogwarts.” Professor Black cut in again, far more sharply this time, “You’ll just have to learn to get along with your cousin.”

Well. Thea tried to ignore the funny feeling in her gut. She didn’t like Harry, and the Professor was looking at her like she should be ashamed for thinking that. But Harry _was_ a freak. Mum and Dad both said so.  


⌘

And that was that. Dorothea Dursley was going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and if that wasn’t bad enough, she had to go with _Harry_.


	2. Fractures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chap features the ubiquitous diagon alley shopping trip (unironically one of my fav hp fic tropes) and making new friends, plus some family angst.  
> also feat. quality early 90s fashions such as padded shoulders and a general disregard for colour theory

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm using ‘dorothea’ when she’s acting more like the dursleys raised her - ie, entitled, prideful, jealous, and ‘thea’ when she acts like her own person or thinks positive things about magic. however its not 100%, so don't read too much into my naming choices in every paragraph lol.
> 
> also i use ‘wixling’ as a diminutive form of wixen, the gender-free plural for witches and wizards (the singular is wix). cos trans rights! (the whole binary gender thing is reductive, colonial (lots of cultures have historically had more than two genders which were overwritten by western colonization) and generally boring). Hogwarts will also be ‘Hogwarts School of Magic’ rather than ‘Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry’ for the same reasons.
> 
> canon wandlore can suck my dick, except for that one bit about people's wandwoods often matching up with their birth months on the celtic calendar.

Thea wakes up fuzzy, her eyes thick with sleep and her head full of cotton wool. Questing hands find the pamphlet and letter on her desk, and she reads through them again. It wasn’t a bad dream. She’s magic and she’s going to Hogwarts, and so is Harry. (Professor Black gave them another welcome packet and Harry’s letter before leaving with a sharp comment about how the address of ‘The Cupboard under the Stairs’ better be a mistake. Mum and Dad grudgingly moved Harry into the guest bedroom and dumped Harry’s Hogwarts letter and ‘Muggleborn Introductory Packet’ on his bedside table.)    
  
⌘   
  


Mum’s been quiet ever since Thea got her letter. Dad’s unreasonably angry about the whole thing, ranting about ‘crackpot old fools who teach magic tricks’ when he thinks she can’t hear. Dudley is… Well, her twin brother is ignoring her, and has been for the last week (the longest he’s ever managed it before). Dudley threw one of his usual tantrums when he learned about the letter, screaming that it wasn’t fair, and why wasn’t  _ he _ allowed to go, and then turned sullen and bitter when his wailing changed absolutely nothing.

  
And Harry is clueless.  _ Thea _ was forced to explain that this isn’t all a practical joke, that it is unfortunately real. Mum and Dad are ignoring Harry even more than usual, and it’s not like Harry knows anything. Dorothea doesn’t want to turn up with an ignorant cousin in tow, if that’s at all avoidable.   
  
“Wicked,” Harry had said in awe, as Thea explained.    
_ Ugh _ . She’s reminded why she doesn’t talk to Harry - he  _ is _ a freak. Who wants to go to a gross old castle in the middle of Scotland? To learn freaky magic?   
Dorothea, if she had a  _ choice _ , would much rather be attending St. Winifreds with her friends.

  
⌘   
  
The Saturday of the trip to Diagon Alley dawns grey and clammy. Dorothea scowls half-heartedly at the clouds - while it's nice that the weather reflects her feelings about this whole ordeal, she’d much prefer sunlight and blue skies.   
  
Dudley cooks breakfast, but he’s irritable and distracted. The pancakes come out burnt and the bacon is dry and crunchy. Thea drowns her pancakes in maple syrup to hide the taste and tries to eat as quickly as possible.   
  
They’re being picked up at nine o’clock, and Dorothea wants to make a good impression. She picks out her clothes for the day with careful precision - the cute t-shirt with the lacy hem, her favourite pink sweater, blue jeans with a daisy embroidered on the pocket, daisy patterned ankle socks and her black leather Mary Janes.   
  
Thea grabs her lovely black leather satchel (an early school gift from Aunt Marge), and slips in her Hogwarts letter, introductory booklet and accumulated pocket money.   
  
Mum was going to come, but something urgent came up at work yesterday that required her immediate attention. Last night involved a lot of screaming and shrill comments about ‘protecting their daughter from the freaks’. Dad didn’t want to accompany Dorothea, claiming that it was all Petunia’s fault in the first place that he had a  _ magical _ daughter. Dad used magical like it was the worst thing a person could be.   
  
Dorothea doesn’t like hearing her parents argue, nor does she like the fearful looks her Mum’s been giving her when she thinks Thea is distracted.   
  
⌘   
  
Instead of going with her, Mum coached her on what to say and do, and pressed a stack of twenty pound notes into her hands. It’s a lot of money - Dorothea thinks she could buy twice the amount of school supplies that she actually needs with it.   
  
⌘   
  
Dorothea and Harry wait alone on the front step. Dorothea smoothes down her sweater and checks that her bag has everything she needs.   
  
Harry is his usual scruffy self. He’s made no attempt to comb his hair, and it falls over his face in messy curls. At least it hides that ugly scar. He’s wearing a torn t-shirt, ripped jeans, ratty once-white sneakers and a hideous grey beanie, embroidered with ‘Little Whinging Primary’ in ugly white stitching.    
Harry shivers visibly and rubs his skinny arms.   
Dorothea sighs.    
  
“Didn’t you grab a coat?”   
  
“Don’t have one,” Harry mumbles.

_  
_ _ Ugh, bloody hell. _ Well, he’s making her family look bad.   
  
“Wait here.”   
  


Dorothea ducks back inside. In her room, right at the back of the wardrobe, is a sweater she wants to get rid of, a Christmas gift from some distant Dursley cousin. It’s a moth-eaten, dull blue, oversized monstrosity. Thea hates it. She suspects the cousin was just trying to get into her Dad’s good graces after his promotion at Grunnings. He failed utterly - Dorothea likes pastel pink and florals, not whatever that  _ thing _ is.   
Now she can pawn it off on Harry, thank God.   
Dorothea yanks the sweater off its hanger and bounces down the stairs, already excited at the prospect of buying something else to fill the space in her wardrobe.   
  
“Here.” Dorothea tosses the sweater at Harry, smirking to herself when she catches him right in the face.   
  
“And turn your hat inside-out or something.”   
  
Harry glares at Thea but does as she says.   
  
It helps - the oversized, ragged clothing begins to look like an aesthetic choice, rather than a fashion crime.    
  
Dorothea concedes that it will have to do, even as she sighs again at the sight.    
  
They resume their silent wait for Professor Black.    
  
⌘   
  
Professor Black ‘Apparates’ Harry and Dorothea to a side alley in London proper. The twisting and squeezing sensation makes Dorothea feel nauseous, and she turns away to puke in the nearby gutter. Harry looks only a little better off than her, clearly dizzy but not throwing up.    
Dorothea resolves to avoid this ‘Apparition’ as much as possible.   
  
Once they’ve recovered, Professor Black escorts the pair out of the alley, and then into an equally dingy pub, before Dorothea has a chance to do more than blink in the weak sunlight.   
She barely catches a glance at the grimy brick facing, hung with a sign reading ‘The Leaky Cauldron’.   
Inside the pub, she’s relieved to see a group of relatively normal-looking people - parents with kids her age, wearing jeans and regular clothes, not a pointed hat in sight.   
The Deputy Headmistress, Professor McGonagall, welcomes Thea and Harry, and hands them maps of Diagon Alley.   
  
⌘   
  
The Professors split the crowd into neat groups, directing Harry  _ and Dorothea _ , why is her life like this, to go with a family of three, the Grangers. The girl, Hermione, has bushy hair and buck teeth, but a cute, if plain-looking, navy blue dress with a white Dorothy collar. Hermione’s parents introduce themselves as the Dr.s Granger, or Imogen and “just call me Dan” Duncan. They’re perfectly friendly, though they strike Thea as quite strict and serious.    
  
Dorothea trails out the back door with everyone else and watches Professor McGonagall show them how to tap the bricks to get into the Alley.   
  
The first destination is Gringotts, the bank. Run by Goblins, Thea remembers from her information booklet. Weird. But her Dad always says that bankers are important, and that Dorothea and Dudley should always remember to be polite and respectful whenever dealing with them.    
“Always kiss up to the people who look after your money,” he says.

  
Gringotts is a huge building, at least five storeys tall, made with shining white marble and an improbable amount of windows. Outside, welcoming patrons, are a pair of Goblins. Thea tries not to stare. The goblins are several feet taller than Dorothea and have soft, wrinkled grey skin, large, dark eyes, and snub noses. They wear layers of padding beneath shimmering chainmail and brightly coloured silk surcoats, decorated with what she assumes is Gringotts’ crest. Silver rapiers are visible on their belts, as well as a collection of delicate mechanical instruments which Thea can only guess at the purpose of.   
  


⌘   
  
Inside is an endless expanse of beautifully tiled floor, decorated with moving mosaics that show the day-to-day of bank life - goblins writing in ledgers, goblins meeting with clients, goblins weighing precious stones, goblins crafting jewelry. The bank bustles with activity, goblins in both neat, normal-looking suits and colourful robes that contrast their silver-grey skin, striding purposefully back and forth. An array of doors covers the furthest wall, while to the left a long wooden bench stretches down the hall, where various clerks conduct business with the bank’s patrons. To the right, rich tapestries hang from the walls, several joining together to make a massive version of the Gringotts crest, and metal staircases climb towards the skylight high above.   
  


⌘

  
Thea heads for the long desk. She waits politely as the goblin clerk finishes writing something in their ledger, trying not to fidget. Mum coached her on what to say.    
And Thea’s a little excited for a taste of independence.   
  
“Excuse me, uh, Banker Goblin, sir?”   
  
“Yes, wixling?”   
  
_ What’s a wixling? _ She wonders, and then puts it aside to figure out later.   
  
“I’d like to set up an account please, sir.”   
The goblin eyes her.    
  
“Name?”   
  
“Dorothea Aislinn Dursley.”   
  
“Sign here, blood here,” the goblin points.   
  
_ Whoah, what? Okay, be polite, be polite. _ _  
_ _  
_ “Um…? Sorry, that is… uh… Why does the bank need my blood, sir?”   
  
“We can use magic,” here the goblin grins, “to link your account with any existing ones you have in the Muggle world.”   
  
“I… see.”  _ She doesn’t, really.  _ How does that even work?   
  
“And it’s the ultimate form of security - blood is hard to duplicate” the clerk adds as an afterthought. “I believe non-magical people would refer to it as DNA?”   
  
_ Well, that’s a bit creepy. But Dorothea still needs an account, either way. _ _  
_ _  
_ “Thank you for explaining, sir.”   
  
Thea signs the parchment (with a feather quill, of all things) and pricks her finger with the proffered pin, pressing a bloody thumbprint next to her name. It’s messy but legible.   
  
“And your deposit?”   
  
Dorothea hands over her money - some of it from her Mum, to cover the cost of her supplies, and some of her pocket money (she can earn a  _ lot _ for doing the laundry a few times a week, and unlike Dudley, she prefers to save up and buy lovely clothes or cute new ballet shoes, rather than splurging on candy).   
  
“And will you be wanting some magical money, wixling?”   
  
“Yes please, sir.”   
  
The goblin hands her back a heavy leather pouch, which, when Thea opens it, is full of gold, silver and bronze coins.  _ Dudley’s gonna be so jealous _ , she smirks.   
  
“And  _ your _ name, wixling?”   
  
Dorothea turns to find Harry _ waiting right beside her _ . She wishes he would stop hanging around. Can’t he go make friends or something?    
  
“Harry Potter. Um, sir.”    
  
If the goblin had eyebrows, Thea thinks they would be slowly rising in surprise. Professor Black had mentioned something about Harry’s parents being well known, or something, hadn’t he? And Mum had angrily proclaimed that ‘ _ her damn sister should’ve provided for her brat if she wanted him to go to some crackpot old school _ ’, and had refused to give Harry any money.   
  
“Well. Sign here, blood here.”   
  
Harry complies, his writing even messier than Dorothea’s.   
  
Thea yelps perfectly in sync with Harry when a shimmer of gold rises up from the parchment. Hers didn’t do that!   
  
“Ah yes. Your family already has several accounts with us. And you, specifically, have a trust fund already set up, which should be sufficient for your purposes.”   
  
“Wait, what!?” Harry exclaims loudly.   
  
_ Bloody hell. _ Dorothea elbows Harry sharply.   
  
“Don’t be rude,” she hisses.   
  
“My cousin,” Dorothea glares at Harry, “would like to know if you’re able give us any more information on these accounts, sir?”   
  
“Of course. Though only Harry Potter may have access to this information. You are not permitted”   
  
“Yes sir.”    
  
Thea wants to know more, so, so badly. But she isn’t foolish enough to cross a goblin within their own bank,  _ especially _ not when she just signed over her money.  _ And _ her blood (which, if the occasional fantasy novel she’s read in secret has any bearing on actual magic, is  _ really _ important).   
  
And so Harry is escorted into a side office, looking daunted.   
  
⌘   
  
“What’s happening here?”   
  
Dorothea jumps as Professor Black glides up behind her. The Professor's voice is mild, but she can hear the steel in it.    
  
“Harry Potter is accessing more in-depth information about his accounts,” answers the clerk briskly, already turning back to their ledger.   
  
That seems to satisfy Professor Black, who turns his attention to Dorothea.    
  
“Everything sorted, Miss. Dursley?”   
  
“Yes, Professor.”   
  
“And are you getting along better with Mr. Potter?”   
  
_ Why does he even care? _ Dorothea must make a face, because the Professor’s eyes narrow.   
  
“A little, sir.”   
  
Luckily, Harry emerges, before Professor Black can subject her to a full inquisition.   
  
Harry is loaded down with folders of parchment, all stuffed into a leather folio.  _ Why didn't he bring a bag or something? _ Dorothea scowls.    
Unable to see over the top of the pile, her cousin trips over his own feet and goes sprawling across the beautifully mosaiced floor. Papers fly into the air, fountaining upwards with the force of his fall.   
Dorothea smirks at her unfortunate cousin, before remembering she has company and resentfully bending down to grab some of the more far-flung pieces of parchment.    
Instead, she watches, stunned, as all the papers swirl up, shuffle themselves neatly in mid-air, and file back into the leather folio.    
Professor Black stands next to her, wand raised.   
With another swish of his wand, the Professor turns a piece of fluff into an over-the-shoulder bag, which flies over to Harry and carries the folio of its own accord.   
  
Thea stares.   
  
Okay, maybe magic is useful. A little. She’s not going to start being best friends with all the freaks, but maybe she can learn some cool stuff and get her parents to chill out.   
  


⌘   
  
Their group spills out onto the street. Dorothea finally manages to dump Harry on the Grangers and escape with her new friend Lily and her family. Lily’s mum, Ms. Moon, is a friendly woman with milk-pale skin and shocking violet eyes, and wonderful taste in clothing. She’s wearing a plaid crop top and slacks combo and a long coat with padded shoulders in cerulean blue. She’s accompanied by a Ms. Mohammed, a chatty woman with rich brown skin and a beautiful silk head scarf printed with colourful peacocks. Ms. Mohammed is a family friend, and apparently someone called a Squib, a normal person born to magical parents, so she’s allowed to accompany them into the magical world.   
Lily and Thea are given free reign, Ms. Moon and Ms. Mohammed both happy to observe from a distance, with strict instructions to be at Fortescue’s ice cream parlour at one o’clock, where they’re supposed to reconnect with the rest of the group.   
  


⌘

Shopping is the best part so far. Thea’s delighted to discover that Lily has a similar taste in clothing and an equal love for pastel colours. The pair explore the whole street before they make any choices, finding Conjurers Couture, Funky Fresh Fashion Fads, and Ser. Blacks Magical Tailor, Est. 1437, as well as the more mainstream Madam Malkin’s Robes for all Occasions, and the high-class Twilfit & Tattings. Thea looks at the tailors sign again as they turn back up the street. _ Is Black a common last name in the magical world or something? _ _  
_   
Lily convinces Thea to stop off at Flourish and Blotts to pick up the basic first year text books first, so they can focus on clothes (Lily spends an extra ten minutes hunting down books on magical theory while Thea waits impatiently). And then Thea’s eye is caught by a potions store, with a display of shiny gold cauldrons in the window. She makes conversation with the shop attendant as she examines them, learning that they are a fifth-year Slytherin at Hogwarts, someone called Professor Snape teaches potions there, and that gold is used as a base for more magically powerful potions, and not suitable for first years.    
_ Boring _ . Dorothea wants a beautiful golden potions set!   
She buys a plain pewter one instead, with the accompanying glass phials, scales, and various miscellaneous bits and pieces. Lily spends a long time staring wistfully at a shimmering silver cauldron engraved with complex runes before buying the normal set. The shop attendant sorts them out with simple ingredients kits and tells them to come say hi if they get Sorted into Slytherin.   
  
Then, Thea realises she’ll need something larger than her satchel to fit all this stuff, so she and Lily head off to look at school trunks. There are trillions of varieties in the store. All different sizes, covered in leather and dragonhide and troll skin, enchanted to speak or follow you around or come when called. Collapsible wardrobes and entire bookshelves and bathrooms and kitchens fold out of pocket dimensions in trunks engraved with names or charmed to flash in different colours or shrink down to the size of a pin.   
  
Thea chooses a serviceable black trunk, covered in dragonhide (it looks just like normal leather, she hopes her parents won't notice), and designed to weigh exactly ten pounds, no matter what she puts in it. It comes with the default set up - a single bookshelf, a compartment for potions stuff, a specific box for storing craft projects, charmed to prevent damage or wear over time, and another generic storage space. It also costs twenty Galleons, roughly one hundred quid.    
Thea ignores that part - she can afford it, and hopefully it’ll last her whole schooling career.   
  
Lily goes for a similar trunk, but covered with black leather, with three bookshelves and a built-in filing system. Dorothea absently wonders if this is an indication that her new friend will be Sorted into Ravenclaw, which is apparently the house of the clever and wise.   
  
And then, they can finally look at clothes. Madame Malkin’s is advertising a discount for Hogwarts students, so Lily and Dorothea get fitted for their school robes there. Then, they peruse the other stores. Thea stares with longing at a deep purple winter cloak, but it's far out of her price range - three hundred Galleons! Lily nearly buys a bright green jacket before her Mum reminds her that something like that will be cheaper in normal stores. Lily reluctantly puts the jacket back, and instead buys a soft pink scarf, patterned with cherry blossoms, that Dorothea looks at with envy.   
  
Thea decides she wants a regular wardrobe as well as her school robes - it’ll be easier if she can blend in with her magical classmates at school - she doesn’t want to be the one looking like a freak while away at school for a whole year. Thank God for her Mums’ over preparedness - Dorothea has more than enough money to update her wardrobe and still buy all her school supplies.   
Thea picks up a couple of everyday robes in soft, muted colours - burgundy, dark gold, forest green, and deep pink - cute socks with patterns that move, and a white alice headband charmed to keep her hair neat. Dorothea refuses to dress in dull black robes all the time. Thinking ahead to winter, Thea also gleefully scoops up a pale mint green sweater, patterned with flowers that grow and change before her eyes, and plainer, unenchanted one in red. Maybe magic  _ is _ alright sometimes.   
  
⌘   
  
Just before lunch, they get their wands from Ollivanders. Thea’s is “oak and unicorn hair, ten inches, good for basics”, while Lily’s is “ash and phoenix feather, eleven and a quarter inches, nice and flexible”. Mr Ollivander is old and creepy, his skin weathered like ancient paper. Dorothea barely maintains her expression of polite interest as he lectures them on wand lore and proper wand care, though she does buy a polishing kit and wrist holster.   
  
Eager to escape, Lily pulls a ‘look at the time, we must be getting to lunch’, and the pair race off down the street, while Ms. Moon and Ms. Mohammed follow at a more sedate pace. Thea and Lily claim seats next to each other at a huge outdoor table with the rest of their group, and quickly order lunch. Hermione is sitting on Dorothea’s right, with Harry next to her. On Lily’s left is a boy Thea doesn’t know, Dean Thomas.

For lunch, Thea chooses a bacon and egg pie, then follows up with a double scoop of ‘Hogwarts Delight’, which turns out to be a cardamom and vanilla ice cream swirled through with the Hogwarts House colours and tiny chocolate House symbols. Thea gleefully bites the head off a tiny, roaring, white chocolate lion and wishes she could bring some home for Dudley, even if he is ignoring her.   
  
⌘

  
After lunch, they’re all forced together again and given a formal tour, with a bunch of boring educational facts about the buildings and a lecture on the history of magical Britain. A couple of the parents team up to get all the school supplies that’ve been forgotten, accompanied by Professor Black. Imogen Granger is nice enough to grab Thea’s telescope and a pair of dragon-hide gloves in a lovely iridescent white. Thea thanks her profusely, revising her earlier opinion of the Grangers as rule-abiding bores. Hermione is friendly and likeable, if over-eager, and her parents are perfectly nice.

⌘

  
As the other kids leave with their parents, Professor Black shows Harry and Dorothea how to catch the Knight Bus and escorts them home. It’s a little wild but  _ much _ better than Apparition.    
  


⌘

When Dorothea and Harry arrive home, Dorothea is fussed over and given cake for dessert after her ordeal with the freaks.   
  
Harry is locked in his new bedroom with a bottle of water and some bread and cheese. Thea wonders how long she has before her parents’ fear of magic overcomes their love for her. But they wouldn’t do that, right? Her Mum and Dad love her.    
_ But do they love her or what Dorothea represents as their golden girl-child, with her ballet and pink dresses and good grades _ , a little voice whispers in the back of her mind. Thea purposefully shuts it out and does her daily stretches, trying to shake off the feelings of unease.

⌘

The rest of the holidays continue almost like normal. Dorothea spends as much time out of the house as possible, playing with Rose and Sarita and her other friends, attending her ballet and piano lessons, and even hanging out at the park with Harry once or twice.   
A birthday gift from Aunt Marge, a ballet camp in south England run by the English National Ballet company, offers Thea a blissful two weeks of freedom, an opportunity to forget about her newly-discovered freakishness. It’s a relief to be away from her family for a while, with her Mum cleaning everything in sight as if she can scrub away Thea’s magic and Dad barely speaking. She returns to find that Harry had tagged along on Dudley’s trip to the zoo and is confined to his room for somehow letting a boa constrictor out of its enclosure. Dudley continues to ignore her.   
  
Apart from that, Thea shuts herself in her room. She skims through her magical school books and then distracts herself with something  _ normal _ , knitting, practicing her scales or doing her ballet exercises.   
  
She writes letters to Lily and Hermione and a few others, and she tries to pretend that her life isn’t crumbling because of that stupid letter, with its strange green ink and pretentious wax seal. That her world isn’t slowly falling apart because of Professor Black’s visit and the revelation of her magic.

⌘   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so yes, ms moon and ms mohammed are totally bisexual wlw in a commited relationship, (mr moon was around for a few years andis now out of the picture). dorothea doesn’t notice because period-typical homophobia means they’re being subtle + she has no frame of reference for adult women having romantic/sexual relationships with other women. 
> 
> especially w/ the shopping trip part, i’m trying to establish that dorothea’s pride/vanity and love of the aesthetic ™ easily overrides her dislike of magic. she’s already big on fashion and clothes, and most of the desire to appear normal is her parents influence cos she's literally eleven. also, her desire to blend in is causing her to embrace magical fashion and begin to accept other parts of magical society.  
> like yeah, sure, thea was raised by vernon and petunia, but what small child doesn’t want to go to magic school! (some of them, i guess, but that's not the point lmao)  
> also im not british, so my prices are probably a bit wonky - i have no idea how pounds work, realism is dead.
> 
> im alternately capitalizing Goblins when i’m referring to the whole species, and using lowercase ‘goblins’ to talk about individual people.  
> im trying to construct my own goblin culture/society with liberal application of headcanon, bcs rowling’s canon goblins are one big anti-Jewish stereotype. 
> 
> (i have attempted research about anti-semitism and stuff but if you've got feedback pls lemme know)
> 
> so:  
> Goblins have very ritualised codes of behaviour. they operate on a social system of, like, respect and honour, and keeping one's promises. their hierarchy is built almost entirely on personal merit, so even if your parents are hot shit, you have to prove yourself to your community before you can get that sweet sweet validation.  
> by magical (wizarding) law they’re forbidden from carrying wands. but who cares? not the goblins. they wield Western European-style basket-hilt rapiers and daggers which they can use to channel their magic (partial credit to robsts fic ‘Harry Crow’ for this idea), and have a lot of stuff based in runes and sigils which are drawn out and then charged up, rather than instant one-the-spot energy manipulation like wixen do. plus they’re epic engineers, architects, mechanics, etc. so they can just build a whole lot of complex machinery to help them live their lives. (goblins have the coolest prosthetics in existence)
> 
> they have basically no sexual dimorphism, which helpfully means that non-Goblins can’t discern a goblin’s gender, and they don’t have entrenched gender roles, and really don't care about what gender the magical world thinks they are. They tend to use non-gendered terms when talking to non-Goblins (e.g, calling Thea ‘wixling’) , but not always.
> 
> that’s about it so far, lemme know what you think! leave a comment below, send a coded message in the stars, send a tumblr ask, put a message in a bottle, dm me, whatever!


	3. Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dorothea rides the Hogwarts Express and gets Sorted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes you gotta stop overthinking things and just post.
> 
> In this chap:  
> More exploration of how the muggleborn kids are introduced to the magical world, plus thea (and harry) making more friends before hogwarts.  
> and then… THE SORTING! (dun dun duuuuuuuuun) 
> 
> and i’ve changed some minor stuff from canon - Hogwarts only has robes required, no under-uniform like in the movies etc, so what you wear under them is personal choice. however purebloods tend to dress fancy, while muggleborns usually wear jeans and stuff.  
> plus the different houses have differently designed dorms from one another, kinda based on their expectations for how their house should act/what they value.

On the thirtieth of August, Dorothea and Harry pick up their school trunks, summon the Knight Bus, and make their way to Kings Cross station. There, they and the other Muggleborn students are ushered into some sort of conference room for a stern-faced Professor McGonagall and a cheerful Professor Black to check over their supplies. Most of them are deemed suitable, though Hermione has packed too many books - “ _There’s a library at Hogwarts, dear_ ” - and Justin Finch-Fletchely has apparently not packed enough warm clothing - “ _You’ll freeze as soon as winter hits, kid._ ” Harry is told to tidy up his trunk. (Thea notes he’s piled everything messily in the main compartment - it seems Harry didn’t buy a proper magical one with pocket dimensions).   
  


Professor McGonagall shows them the hidden entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters. They’re all suitably impressed at the illusory brick wall, and Lily and Thea pop back and forth between the magical and non-magical sides with uncharacteristic glee. Professor McGonagall explains that it's normally closed to the public outside of the school term, but as Deputy Headmistress she has certain controls over the magic of Hogwarts, including the platform. Professor Black gives a short speech about what to expect at Hogwarts, and explains, briefly, about the prevalence of blood-based prejudices in magical society. Discrimination against Muggleborns, and against those with ‘creature’ blood. It dampens the mood a little, and they all leave feeling contemplative.  
  
Harry and Thea are invited to go for lunch with the Grangers, which Thea happily accepts. She already told Mum and Dad they didn’t know how long it would take and arranged to be home at three o’clock. 

⌘

“I can’t believe Professor McGonagall wouldn’t let me bring my books,” Hermione blusters, sounding far more angry at authority than Thea has ever heard. From their letters, it seemed like Hermione had a hero-worship thing going with most adults, especially teachers. For a girl who seems dedicated to learning _everything_ , Thea isn’t surprised.   
  
“She-” Harry hesitates in the face of Hermione’s enthusiasm, but continues, “She said there was a library at Hogwarts, right?”   
  
“ _Professor McGonagall_ said, Harry, she’s a teacher. And yes, there’ll be so many books at Hogwarts!” Hermione brightens at the prospect.

  
“Oh, I hope I’m in Ravenclaw! What about you, Dorothea?”   
  
“I’m not sure, maybe Slytherin or Hufflepuff?”   
Thea’s been thinking it over, and she’s still uncertain. It really depends how they’ll be sorted into their Houses. If there’s some way to swing the test, Hufflepuff might be a safer bet - they’re known for hard work and being generally normal and level-headed. And Thea remembers the discussion of blood prejudice and Death Eaters and the war that killed Harry’s parents.   
  
“Slytherin!?” squawks Harry, “But they’re evil!”   
  
_What_ . Who has he been talking to?   
  
“But Harry, that doesn’t make any _sense_ . Some of them are our age! I doubt you or Dorothea are capable of true evil, though you could probably manage malice.”   
Thank God for Hermione, the voice of reason.   
  
Harry still looks conflicted.   
  
“But _Voldemort_ was in Slytherin.”   
  
_Oh_ . Thea barely thinks about her Aunt and Uncle - she never knew them, and whenever Mum and Dad mentioned them it was always with disdain. But for Harry those are his parents. Bloody hell.   
  
“But not everyone in Slytherin followed him. I bet there were Death Eaters from other Houses.” Hermione always has a well-reasoned statement, it must be - _hah_ \- magic.   
  
“And he’s not there now.” Thea adds. “Slytherin isn’t inherently evil.”   
  
“Exactly,” Hermione turns to Harry, “so, what House do you think you’ll be in, then?”   
  
“Mum and Dad were in Gryffindor, so I’d like to be there.”   
  
“That’s lovely. I think you’d be a great fit there, Harry!.”   
  
Dorothea makes a face. “Oh yes, the brave Boy-Who-Lived, come to save us from the _evil_ Slytherins.”   
  
Harry just throws his napkin at her, and they move on to discussing magical school subjects as the food arrives.

⌘

On the morning of September first, Thea wakes before dawn. She slept fitfully, disturbed by dreams of faceless crowds and a pervasive yet vague feeling of anxiety. As she gets ready for the day, the dread simply settles deep in her gut. Thea’s never been away from home for more than a month before, and even then her family was nearby - house only a long car ride away, her parents contacted with a quick phone call.   
  
Dudley’s already started at Smeltings, their term beginning a week earlier, and her parents are withdrawn. There is no more baking with Mum or listening to music with Dad, just cold silences and painful loneliness. 

⌘

Dad gives them a ride to King’s Cross. He listens rigidly to the radio and snaps at both Dorothea and Harry when they try to speak. Thea almost wishes they’d taken the Knight Bus instead.   
  
They arrive at 9:30, a full hour and a half early. Dad drives off before Thea can say more than ‘bye’, and she blinks back tears while Harry stands there like a lump.   
  
They head towards a corner cafe for cornish pasties and tea, huddling together while strangers hurry across the station or down their morning coffee in various cafes. Lily arrives with Ms. Mohammed while they’re waiting. Lily’s dark hair is braided back, while Ms. Mohammed is wearing a shimmering indigo headscarf and they're both wearing some sort of over-robe? Tunic? Dress? Thea isn’t sure - they’re not made in the British magical style like the robes she bought in Diagon Alley - they’re a squarer, lightweight garment with narrow sleeves and a wide border of ribbon down the front. They’re beautiful and flowing and Dorothea is immediately envious.   
  
Ms. Mohammed waits with them, while Thea, Lily and Harry drink their tea apprehensively. It’s nearly time for the train. As the station clock strikes ten o’clock’, Hermione and her mum arrive.   
  
Dr. Granger and Ms. Mohammed see them off from outside the platform, and they all pass through the brick wall together, barely avoiding a messy collision as they try to wrangle heavy trolleys. Harry sets his owl free to fly to Hogwarts, while Lily cradles her kitten’s carrier carefully.   
  
The quartet choose a compartment in the middle of the train and settle in. Dorothea uses the end of her trunk to prop open the door and they keep an eye out for other people in their year, especially the other norm- Muggleborn kids. Thea has to keep reminding herself to use magical words and phrases, which come reluctantly to her tongue.

⌘

The compartment fills up. Hermione goes for a walk and returns pulling along a magical-born kid called Neville Longbottom. He looks surprised and awkward holding Hermione’s hand, her dark brown skin contrasting his golden tan, and stutters his greeting.   
Another magical-born kid asks to join them, and one of the other Muggleborns from Diagon Alley appears as well. After that, their compartment is beginning to get crowded, so they close the door and settle in for a long ride.   
  
There’s Thea, Harry, Lily, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, Ron Weasley and Dean Thomas.   
  


They play regular, non-magical card games and get to know each other and chatter enthusiastically about Hogwarts. Dorothea feels a little out of place when confronted with everyone else's sheer enthusiasm about the magical ( _freakish,_ a voice whispers) school. Thea’s still unsure about magic as a whole. She finds kinship with Neville, who’s equally anxious about Hogwarts, if not for the same reasons.   
  
Neville haltingly explains how his family thought he wasn’t magical enough to go, which segues into a disconcerting discussion of blood prejudice. Professor Black had explained some of it during their Diagon Alley trip, and again at the station the other day, but Ron and Neville are less circumspect, talking about Death Eaters and You-Know-Who and the war. How normal people and Muggleborns were targeted, how even some ‘pure-blood’ families were wiped out. Ron is pale as he quietly talks about his uncles, Gideon and Fabian Prewett, who were killed for fighting against the Dark Lord.   
  
Thea wonders how much of the magical war overlapped with the non-magical world. Are there magical people in the IRA? How much of _Na Trioblóidí_ so far has been affected by magical society?   
Her train of thought is interrupted as Ron finishes his story: “It was terrible, until Harry stopped him.”   
  
“What, really?” Thea’s heard this part, and she’s tired of the adoring way everyone looks at her weird cousin. It’s unreasonable to think he could’ve somehow killed this magical terrorist guy as an eighteen-month old infant.   
  
Dean chimes in.   
  
“I thought this Voldy-guy was really powerful? Like a baby could stop him. I bet it was his parents or something.”   
  
“Well, that’s what they say,” concludes Ron.   
  
Lily seems distracted by Neville’s discussion of his family.   
“Did your Uncle really dangle you out a window? That’s horrible! My mum’s a Squib, and her family didn’t do anything like that. And she’s still close with them - We always go over to theirs for Eid al-Fitr and stuff.”   
“Uh. Yeah, I guess.”   
“Nah, mate, Moon’s right,” Ron adds with conviction, “that was cruel and stupid of them. Non-magical people aren’t less, you know? My Dad works for the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts department, he’s always going on about the latest wonderful invention the Muggles have made. And they’re your family - they should care about you even if you’re different.” 

  
Before anyone else can speak, they’re interrupted by a knock on the door.   
  


“Anything from the trolley, dears?” A friendly white woman asks, pushing a trolley absolutely loaded with magical sweets.  
  
Thea can only afford a few chocolate frogs to go with her lunch (lamb sandwiches she made herself), same as Dean, the other Muggleborn kid, while Neville chooses a handful of Sugar Quills.   
Harry buys out half the cart while the rest of them watch, wide-eyed. He’s quick to share out his bounty, and a couple of the others pitch in as well.   
  
Hermione only has normal, sugar-free mints - she complains that her parents insist on sugar-free everything, but she also buys some liquorice wands off the trolley. Ron pulls out some russian fudge his mum made and Lily flourishes a container of little dumpling-donut things called luqaimat, while Thea and Dean add their chocolate frogs to the pile.   
  
They all tuck in happily. 

Chocolate frogs bounce around, various home-made snacks are devoured, bright blue bubbles float around from Droobles Best Blowing Gum, and Ron introduces them to Bertie Botts every flavour beans. These are certainly freaky enough to disconcert Dorothea - they come in normal flavours like coconut, blueberry, and pear, as well as ridiculous ones like soap, or lentil, or pepper.

⌘

As the sun sinks towards the horizon, they change into their school robes and freshen up. Thea also slips into black slacks and a crisp white dress shirt. She wants to look neat even without her robes.  
  


The train slows to a stop, and they all spill out into the night.   
  
“First years, over here!”   
Thea stares older students getting into _horseless_ carriages while Lily drags her towards the voice. It belongs to an enormous man with impressive facial hair and coat made of some sort of animal hide, that clearly has a life of its own.   
“I’m Hagrid, keeper of the Keys here. Nice to meet you all.”   
  
He ushers them down a narrow forest path, strung with lanterns. They reach the shore, laden with a collection of tiny rowboats, though the oars are nowhere to be seen.   
  
“Alright, hop in. No more than four to a boat, o’ course, for safety.”   
  


Thea gets into a boat with Lily, accompanied by two others. One is a pug-nosed girl with light skin and choppy dark hair, wearing a beautiful black skirt that flows like water underneath her robes, and the other a boy with pale skin and curly brown hair, who fiddles absently with the Star of David hanging around his neck. There’s no time for introductions as the boats start moving across the lake.

⌘

Dorothea’s first look at Hogwarts will stay with her forever. It’s huge and elaborate, stone towers, spiralling bridges and expansive grounds visible off to the side. The many windows are lit with a welcoming glow, and as they step into the entrance, a loud roar of voices swells like the tide. 

⌘

Professor McGonagall instructs the first years to straighten themselves up and make sure they’re wearing their hats, eyeing Ron’s smudged nose and Neville’s cloak somehow fastened under his left ear.  
  
The Sorting Hat sings a song, but Dorothea’s barely paying attention to the words, too busy taking in the Great Hall. Four broad wooden tables, wall-hangings in the House colours, and countless students in school robes illuminated by flickering candles that float high above their heads.   
Names are called out, alphabetical by last name. Dorothea barely has time to be apprehensive - ‘Dursley’ is early on in the list.

  
Thea squeezes Lily’s hand for good luck and steps out of the crowd. She picks up the Sorting Hat delicately, eyeing the many patches and frayed edges. Mum would never allow something like this at Number Four. Thea places it lightly on her head, and nearly has a heart attack when a voice sounds in her head. It feels like soft, comforting cotton and carries an undertone of murmurs and movement, the background noise of a tailor’s shop. 

And it’s talking to her!  
  
 _Quite focussed on being ‘normal’, are you? But that’s not the point of this, I suppose. Let’s have a look, then…_ _  
_ _  
_ _Ooh, a good mind, definitely a passion for knowledge. You’d certainly make it in Ravenclaw, though if you want that knowledge for_ personal _gain, well, it might be a different story._

 _And yes, yes hard-working under all that arrogance - you could do well in Hufflepuff, they’ll give you a core of steel, and I see you’ve considered it as an option. Good forward planning there._ _  
_ _Some serious ambition too, and a certain amount of ruthlessness._ _  
_ _  
_ _Well, in that case… I encourage you to consider that normal is subjective in your new home in SLYTHERIN!!!!_ _  
_   
The Sorting Hat shouts the last word out to the whole hall, and Thea hears muffled cheers and clapping through the cloth of the Hat.   
  
She slides the Hat off and walks slowly towards the cheering Slytherin table as the trim on her robes turns emerald green. She remembers Professor McGonagall’s lecture from only minutes earlier - “ _your House is like your family_ ” - and wonders how true that will be. Because Thea remembers Professor Black, under his breath, making some remark about how blood prejudice was the worst in Slytherin House. And she remembers Neville and Ron’s faces on the train after discussing the war.   
  
Dorothea is about to find out just how true all that is.

⌘

Thea sits in the centre of the table, nodding politely to the older students. There are only a handful of Slytherin first years right now - ‘Bulstrode, Millicent’, ‘Crabbe, Vincent’, and ‘Davis, Tracey’, Thea recalls.   
  
Davis places her right hand on her forehead, palm out, and bows from waist.   
  
“Well met. I’m Tracey Davis.”   
  
Dorothea can tell there’s some aspect of magical society she’s missing, but she’s spent half her life lying to teachers and parents alike. She can bluff one kid her age, easy. _And she wants to fit in with-_ No. Thea shoves that whisper to the back of her mind.   
  
Thea mimics Davis’ bow.   
  
“Well met, Tracey Davis. I’m Dorothea Dursley.”   
  
This seems to be the correct reply, as everyone else nearby makes their own quiet introductions while the Sorting continues.

⌘

‘Granger, Hermione’ goes to Ravenclaw and immediately engages one of her yearmates in eager conversation about something, Thea can see the excited gesturing from the Slytherin table.  
  
‘Finch-Fletchley, Justin’ and ‘Longbottom, Neville’, both go to Hufflepuff. Thea hopes whoever their Head of House is will do something about Neville’s _Uncle_ dropping him out of a _window_ .   
  
‘Moon, Lillian’, ‘Potter, Harry’ and ‘Weasley, Ronald’ all go to Gryffindor and are vigorously welcomed by a red-headed Prefect.   
  
Harry’s name causes a stir. Whispers break out throughout the hall, and Dorothea sighs almost in sync with several of her new Housemates. She’s pleased to note that many of her fellow Slytherins look equally disgusted with the fuss. 

She looks towards the teacher’s table for a distraction. Hagrid is seated on the far left, then several other teachers that Thea doesn’t recognise. Professor McGonagall is left of the centre, next a wizard with a voluminous white beard and eye-catching purple robes that can only be Headmaster Dumbledore. To Dumbledore’s right are more teachers, but Thea’s eye is drawn to the empty seat on the far right. Professor Black is absent - Is that his seat?  
  
One of the older students sees her looking. Zie points to a pale skinned man with shoulder-length dark hair and a painfully neutral expression.   
  
“That’s Professor Snape. He’s Head of Slytherin House and one of the youngest Potions Masters in Europe. Next to him, in the purple turban, is Professor Quirrel. Ravenclaw alumni and teacher for Defence against the Dark Arts. And that’s Professor McGonagall, of course. Deputy Headmistress, Head of Gryffindor House, and Transfiguration Professor.”  
  
“Isn’t that a lot for one witch?” asks Dorothea, voicing something she’s been wondering about almost since she met Professor McGonagall.  
  
“Yes. Yes it is, firstie. Druids take him, Dumbledore’s been blocking the School Board from hiring more staff for years. Always goes on about how ‘he trusts Professor McGonagall with his life’ and rot like that. As if trust has any bearing on one person’s ability to manage _three, very_ _demanding_ positions _._ The old fool.”   
  


The student scoffs in derision.  
  
Thea decides to ask her next most important question.   
  
“Where’s Professor Black, do you know? I was expecting to see him on my first day.”   
  
“Oh, are you two related or something? No, Professor Black’s not here tonight. It’s odd - he’s usually punctual, and he attends every school function unless he’s literally dying. Hey, Fawley” - zie turns - “you remember when Professor Black got Spattergroit and couldn’t come to our match against Ravenclaw? He was so frustrated, I’d swear steam was coming out his ears.”   
  
“Yeah.” Fawley laughs, “and then that Gryffin-”   
  
Fawley cuts herself off as Headmaster Dumbledore stands up. His speech is odd - He goes on at length about banned objects, forbids them from the ‘Forbidden Forest’, whose name is enough to make Thea wary, and warns them not to go into some corridor because of the likelihood of _‘a painful death_ ’. What the hell? This is a school. Why is such a dangerous corridor allowed to exist, exactly? Mum is gonna be so mad when Thea tells h-. No. Mum’s not going to be able to do anything about it, is she? Dorothea’s on her own here.

  
⌘

Dumbledore also announces that ‘Unfortunately, Professor Black has had to leave us for personal reasons. I’m sure he will be sorely missed by all of you. Due to difficulty sourcing staff, Alchemy lessons are temporarily suspended.’ His eyes twinkle.   
  
“Merlin’s bal- .Merlin’s bags, you’d think they’d do better than that. I heard he’s a vampire now.” comments a third year, cutting off what Dorothea suspects was magical profanity after a sharp look from an older Prefect.   
  
“ _I_ heard Professor Black got married to a Mongolian sorceress and ran off to the Steppes to be with her forever,” remarks a dreadlocked fifth year with a smirk.   
  
“Oh, what about the ‘he crossed the American Ministry and is in jail on the Continent’ rumour? I liked that one,” another fifth-year pitches in.   
  
“Shut it, you lot,” commands one of the seventh-year Prefects, his silver badge shining in the light. “Black is a decent Professor, stop talking crap about him.”   
  
“And hey, what about Alchemy classes?” someone else interjects.   
  


“Yeah, I was looking forward to taking it this year. Isn’t Dumbledore friends with the Flamels? Surely he could find us a substitute teacher?”  
  
“Dumbledore’s an Alchemist in his own right, actually,” says Fawley, “he could teach it. Not that I’d want to learn from that Light-lover, but it’s the principle of the matter.”   
  
This discussion fades as the Feast begins.   
  
Dorothea’s mind reels. She tucks into her food and looks around the table, getting a decent look at her yearmates.

A boy with a pointed face and hair almost as pale as his skin catches her eye.  
  
“Who’re you then?”   
  
_Rude_ . Thea bows with her hand palm-out on her forehead.   
  
“Well met. I’m Dorothea Dursley.”   
  
The boy’s eyes narrow.   
  
“I don’t know that name. Not a _Mudblood_ , are you?”   
  
Several people at the table wince, and Fawley whips around to glare at the boy.   
  
Dorothea scowls. She may not know exactly what that means, but is was obviously an insult. Thea draws on the voice Rose’s mum uses when someone implies she’s a bad person for being a single mother, perfectly pitched to make the asker feel stupid for even considering such an idea.   
  
“How _dare_ you even say such a thing!?” Thea proclaims shrilly.   
  
It has the desired reaction, stopping everyone in their tracks. The blond boy scowls back at her, then twitches as the girl next to him elbows him sharply in the gut.   
  
“Well met, Dorothea Dursley. I’m Pansy Parkinson.” she smiles, and Dorothea realises it's the same dark-haired girl from the boat ride across the lake. Dorothea grins and nods in greeting.   
  
The blond boy is being quietly chewed out by Fawley, who Thea can now see is also wearing a silver Prefect’s badge.

⌘

After the Feast, the first-year Slytherins are led down never-ending, twisting corridors and fathomless flights of stairs. Dark stone hallways are lit only by flickering torches which burn with flames that go from warm gold to emerald green as they walk deeper into the dungeons. The entrance to the common room is an unremarkable stretch of wall, decorated only with an oddly plain portrait of Salazar Slytherin, a simple full-body image of the wizard seated against a dull green background. Their current password is _‘gloriam et imperium’_.

⌘

The Slytherin welcoming speech is brisk.   
  
“Welcome to Slytherin House. Professor Snape is our Head of House, you can go to him or any of the Prefects if you have problems. Be here at eight o’clock tomorrow morning for an escort down to the Great Hall. You can choose a room from any of the available ones, they’re mixed gender until third year. Choose wisely. Now go to bed. Make friends and make our House proud.”   
  
Dorothea catches Parkinson’s eye and the other witch nods. Then they’re off. All the rooms are similar, but not identical - twin bedrooms with folding screens for privacy, each joined to the neighbouring room via a shared bathroom. Thea and Pansy choose the room at the end of the hall, with a window that shows the lake. The beds are fancy four-posters with canopies and the whole room is furnished with pale ash furniture and soft willow-green drapery.   
  
Thea quickly nabs the corner bed, and sees her school trunk pop into existence beside it as she explores the rest of the room. A wardrobe and bedside table each, and a small table and two chairs to share. The bathroom is all white porcelain and copper accents, with two showers, two sinks, and a floor-to-ceiling, wall-length mirror along the back. Abstract snake mosaics decorate the other walls, and a side table is piled high with fluffy, beryl green towels.

  
Thea hangs her clothes in the wardrobe, organizes her school books and leaves her trunk empty to air out after being stuffed with esoteric potions ingredients and layers of robes. She yawns her way through brushing her teeth and donning pajamas, and barely mutters a ‘good night’ to Pansy before sleep claims them both. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo, Professor Black has mysteriously disappeared *gasp*. we’ll find out what happened to him later on, but this is related to my interpretation of canon for this fic - dumbledore had an alchemy teacher so he figured the philosophers stone would be safe and extra protected, but now prof black has vanished and dumbles is low-key panicking about his protections for the stone, which is why he gets all the other teachers to contribute instead, creating the protections that harry and co. have to go through in canon.
> 
> also slytherins aren't inherently evil, an issue that has been discussed at length in this fandom, but something i wanted to have happen in chapter via dialogue as well. It’s something that frustrates me about canon, especially if you consider that ostracising these kids is gonna just cause them to band together and adopt extremist beliefs sort of defensively - if the kids are indoctrinated you gotta kill facism with kindness (Though some of them are just dipshits who believe in blood purity, in which case definitely punch them).
> 
> And Thea and Harry’s relationship is already rocky enough, I didn’t want him to further reject Thea after she’s Sorted into Slytherin.
> 
> You’ll also notice Thea’s relationship with her parents is disintegrating really quickly.  
> Petunia and Vernon’s fear of magic is beginning to outweigh their love for Dorothea as more time passes and it becomes an unavoidable truth.  
> Especially bcs a whole chunk of their relationship was because Thea and Dudley were a representation of ‘normalcy’ - a perfect family with two cute, abled kids with their acceptable stereotypical hobbies, living in a nice middle-class house. Now Petunia’s having to deal with feelings of jealousy, cos her daughter is magical enough to attend Hogwarts when Petunia herself wasn’t, as well as the usual fear and hatred of magic in general, while Vernon’s in shock and covering for it by being stiff and silent and giving Thea the cold shoulder.
> 
> Whether Dudley is gonna go the same route is still up in the air.
> 
> At the start Lily and Ms Mohammed are both wearing abaya, traditional qatari women’s clothing. The specific one I'm picturing is https://lebiska.com/product/tulle-abaya/.
> 
> I'm thinking of retconning Ms. Mohammed’s name to Ms. Al-Mohannadi to be more culturally accurate, based of this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Muhannadi  
> and another name site - https://forebears.io/surnames/al-mohannadi.
> 
> Again, constructive criticism and feedback is extra welcome!! 
> 
> Na Trioblóidí, or ‘The Troubles’ was a conflict in Northern Ireland from like, the 60s to the end of the 90s, sorta Catholicism vs Protestantism but more complicated (i think). If you’re from the UK you probably know more about it than I do lol.
> 
> Also some validation for neville cos yikes.
> 
> That forehead/bow “well met” thing is shamelessly ripped off from The Worst Witch (netflix series), go watch it - its a bunch of twelve-year old witches making friends and getting into trouble and it's nice and light-hearted.
> 
> -
> 
> i'm still brainstorming a lot of stuff (e.g, neither of lily’s parents have first names yet, random kids in thea’s year are spontaneously appearing), and i'm just publishing chapters as i write them so be prepared for stuff to just randomly pop up and the characters to have retroactively known about it the whole time lmao


	4. Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> classes and life in Slytherin!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> how does Slytherin operate? Time to find out!
> 
> I nearly titled this ‘Dawn’ but that seemed too pretentious and overly symbolic for a chapter that’s just setting the stage.
> 
> If you want more info on the class schedules, check out the next work in this series.
> 
> Wix is a gender-neutral term for a magic-user, e.g, witch or wizard.
> 
> There’s a lot of homework included in this chapter. Despite the books being set almost entirely in Hogwarts, Harry and co never seem to do much actual school work, which frustrates me. Personally, I like realism/world-building about magical classes and what they’d contain.

Dorothea is woken promptly at six o’clock the next morning by flares of cheerful blue light and odd chiming noises.    
This turns out to be Pansy’s magical alarm clock, a silver disc spelled to light up the room and wake the owner.   
  
Thea grumbles as Pansy rushes to turn it off, but quickly accepts the other girl's apology. Dorothea decides to get up anyway, and goes through her usual routine, which takes twice as long as usual as she adjusts to her room in Slytherin:   
  
Her full stretching routine and some light ballet practice, interrupted by Pansy’s curious questions. A shower, which involves navigating the confusing mass of knobs and dials in the showers and a mirror which offers fashion advice as she braids her hair back. Choosing her outfit is at least faster than usual, as Thea only needs to pick from her identical selection of slacks, dress shirts and Slytherin robes. She does choose a pair of her new magical socks, cute black ones with blooming roses on them, and her usual Mary Janes - Hogwarts didn’t specify any shoes on the equipment list, and Thea is grateful for the point of familiarity.   
  
Pansy and Thea wait for the Prefects in the Common Room, quickly joined by Blaise Zabini and Millicent Bulstrode, who have the room next to theirs.   
  


⌘   
  
They’re escorted to breakfast by the fifth-year Prefects - Gemma Farley and Cadmus Nott - as well as a handful of third and fourth-year students who’ve also been assigned to guide them.   
  


Breakfast is a more casual affair than the Feast. 

Thea sits with Pansy, Tracey Davis and Blaise Zabini, surrounded by other members of their House. The food is plentiful and delicious, and they chatter about simple things as they eat. Professor Snape hands out their class schedules in businesslike silence, and Thea examines hers eagerly.   
  
First-year classes are from nine till three. They have five periods, each one hour long - three in the mornings and two after lunch. Some classes are Slytherin only, and some are mixed with other Houses.    
Today’s a Monday, so Slytherin has double Herbology with Ravenclaw from nine to eleven, a free period, lunch at twelve, and then double Defence by themselves from one till three that afternoon.   
Thea’s been carefully ignoring the weirdness of Hogwarts, but classes are a whole new kettle of fish.   
If she’s selective about what she pays attention to, Hogwarts is just an eccentric, old-fashioned boarding school who’s strangeness can be partially explained by the isolation. Robes are warm and covering, a sensible uniform for such a cold climate. Quills and candles and a steam-train are just an aesthetic choice, leaning towards traditional appearances. 

But owls delivering mail at breakfast, food that appears on their plates without apparent effort, strange classes with titles such as Transfiguration and Defence against the Dark Arts? 

Dorothea is quickly reminded of the freakishness of the magical world, and how uncomfortable it makes her.   
  
⌘

  
The class schedules are a reminder that Dorothea does not belong here, and it puts her off-balance for the rest of the day.    
Herbology, at least, is sort-of normal - plants and gardening - if Thea ignores the plants which talk and move and consciously react to their environment. It’s shared with Ravenclaw, but Thea barely has a chance to smile at Lily and Hermione before class starts and the first-year Slytherins close ranks.   
  
Professor Sprout covers the syllabus and her expectations for them, and assigns them an introductory essay, due next week.   
Herbology studies both magical and non-magical plants and their various uses and properties - medicinal, decorative, uses as potions ingredients. Plants which can be grown to protect a property or repel enchantments, plants which talk, plants which heal you by singing or glowing or a million other strange methods. 

Thea takes mental notes about the homework expectations and tries to ignore the weirder parts of Sprout’s lecture, like the instruction not to enter Greenhouse Five on a new moon in case they encounter the wakening ‘Widdershins Walnut’ tree.   
  
After Herbology, the fifth-year Prefects come to collect them, handing out  _ Aguamenti _ and  _ Scourgify _ charms to the soil-covered first years. After being escorted back to their Common Room, the first-year Slytherins spend their free period playing Exploding Snap. Thea mostly watches and tries to pretend she isn’t discomfited by the explosive magic. She needs to get used to this quickly - even if she hopes that somehow there’s been a mistake, Thea knows, deep in her bones, that the magical world is also  _ her _ world.

Lunch is boisterous, even in Slytherin, where Dorothea gets the sense that they’re supposed to be refined and elegant at all times.  _ Yeah, right. _

Thea listens as the others talk about growing up in magical households, filing away scraps of information for later.    
Malfoy, the blond boy who called her a Mudblood at the feast, won’t shut up about his father, Lucius Malfoy, who Dorothea gathers is an influential figure in magical high society. Blaise Zabini’s mother is the same, a powerful and well-known wix, and the Zabini’s are descended from a famous Italian magical line. Parkinson, Goyle, Greengrass, and Nott are also from elite families, while Bulstrode, Crabbe and Davis are from more normal families. The  _ pureblood _ first-years all seem to have large estates, wealthy and well-connected parents, and equally exalted lineages, while the others,  _ half-bloods, _ do not - Daphne Greengrass talks about horse riding and her younger sister and the Greengrass estate in southern England, while Tracey Davis talks about playing with her cousins, growing up in a cottage in St Austell and attending a normal ‘muggle’ primary school.   
  
Dorothea is vague when asked about her family, though there are some things she can’t avoid mentioning:   
“I was raised mostly Muggle-style since I was a kid. I think I would’ve preferred a magical household,” she comments to Milicent. It’s all completely true - she would’ve prefered being raised by wixen instead of getting such a  _ lovely _ surprise just as she was about to go off to a nice, normal secondary school and spread her metaphorical wings. (Other than that, Thea keeps quiet and lets her fellow Slytherins assume whatever they like about her bloodlines).   
  


⌘   
  
The first Defence against the Dark Arts lesson is a joke. Aside from Dorothea’s distaste for the subject matter, Professor Quirrell stutters his way through an introductory speech and then assigns them reading to do, the first two chapters of  _ The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection _ . There is no practical demonstration of what they could learn later on, or even a useful idea of the basic concepts - Quirrell’s speech was far too disjointed to be of any use. Plus, the professor gives Dorothea an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she can’t quite ignore.    
  


All in all, it’s incredibly boring, and Thea spends half the lesson interesting herself by trying to identify whatever’s  _ off _ about Professor Quirrell and joining Pansy in doodling elaborate gowns on a sheet of parchment.   
  


⌘

  
After classes, Thea heads back to the Common Room with Pansy, Millicent and Daphne. She drafts an awkward letter home, messy and ink-stained, before giving up to play Exploding Snap with Pansy. Daphne eyes her terrible writing -  _ she's never used a quill before, okay _ \- and immediately pens a letter to her parents asking for some calligraphy and writing books. Thea slides her a chocolate frog in thanks and tries to pretend she’s simply a bad student rather than someone using a quill for the first time.   
  
At dinner it becomes more difficult to pretend that she grew up in a magical household, surrounded by older students, but Thea manages with lies of omission and imprecise language, letting people hear what they want to hear.   
  
“Yeah, I’m Potter's cousin. Not quite sure on the details though.”   
“Oh, of course, a lot of the pureblood families are like that now, I should know.” replies Blaise. Thea remembers Blaise complaining about distant cousins vying for a betrothal to him (as an heir of the main family line, he’s quite the catch) and winces in sympathy.   
  
Dorothea asks a second-year witch about DADA - “Was last year’s teacher any better than Quirrell?” - and lets the conversation move away from family lines.   
People are quick to bitch about a succession of terrible Defence teachers, thoroughly distracted from any questions about lineage, and Thea relaxes a little.   
  
⌘

Tuesday brings double Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. 

Dorothea slips into the seat next to Neville, who smiles at her.

“Well-met, Dorothea,” he offers formally, and Thea returns the greeting.

  
“How are you, Neville? How’s Hufflepuff? Is your Common Room as cool as ours?”

Thea peppers her (tentative) friend with questions, eager to get to know him better. Class may be a struggle, but people have always been Dorothea’s strong point. They chatter only a little before Professor McGonagall starts the class by turning from a cat into a person, causing Justin Finch-Fletchley to fall out of his seat in shock. Thea smirks before she catches McGonagall’s sharp look and smooths her expression into one of neutral interest. Professor McGonagall is  _ scary _ , and Thea immediately resolves to be just like her when she’s older.   
Dorothea takes dutiful notes throughout the lecture, even as her dislike of such concrete  _ freakishness _ rears its head.    
(Daphne’s right, Thea thinks as she looks over her notes later - her writing is atrocious, she really needs to get better at quill-work).   
  
Prefect Farley ferries them to Charms with light chatter about the Charms Professor - Professor Flitwick is apparently half-Goblin and a world-renowned duelling champion. 

Their first Charms lesson is interesting - Professor Flitwick starts them on basic wand-work immediately. They cover  _ Lumos _ and  _ Nox _ , and then a simple charm to help the caster with wand movements, and another that corrects your pronunciation - you have to say the incantation, and then the one for the spell you want to improve on. 

Thea casts them over and over, watching as the glowing lines illustrate the jab of  _ Alohomora _ . It’s entrancing, and some of the tension seeps out of her as she’s reminded of the wonders of Diagon Alley. Magic isn’t all bad, really.   
  
After lunch they have their first History of Magic lesson, another Slytherin-only class. It’s taught by a ghost, but Dorothea quickly gets over that when she realises how utterly  _ useless _ he is - Professor Binns somehow manages to make the development of the magical world boring. Dorothea  _ had been _ excited for a relatively dull, normal History class, but this is actually a bit of a disappointment. Tracey and Daphne start up a game of magical chess, while Vincent and Gregory, Malfoy’s two friends, debate the merits of various ‘Quidditch’ teams. (Thea racks her brain and finally remembers that Quidditch is the sport wixen play on  _ flying broomsticks _ ).

After ten minutes Dorothea gives up on paying attention entirely and starts reading her copy of  _ A History of Magic _ under the table. Bathilda Bagshot is an entertaining writer, and it’s far more interesting than Binns’ lecture.   
  


⌘   
  
Their last period of the day is  _ technically _ a free period, but they actually have an introductory Potions lesson with Professor Snape. Their Head of House likes to keep an eye on his youngest Slytherins, apparently.    
  
The dungeons are dark and cramped, but the first-year Potions lab is improbably light and airy.  _ Does Hogwarts have magic ventilation ducts?  _ Thea can’t see any sort of windows or air ducts, but it  _ is _ a magic castle. The room is larger than it should be and filled with rows of stone workstations, while endless cupboards and shelves line the walls, hung with dried herbs or filled with strange things floating in jars.

  
Professor Snape starts with a stern speech on safety procedures in brewing, describing all the painful and permanent injuries they could get from messing around in a potions lab in unpleasant detail, a strange glint in his eye that unnerves Thea greatly.   
Then, Snape gives them a test, five pages of open-ended questions, crammed onto the parchment in tiny writing, to be answered in neat paragraphs on their own separate parchment.  _ Bloody hell _ .   
Dorothea barely looked at her school books all summer, something she’s beginning to regret now - it would be easier to fit in if she knew what she was doing. She does her best to attempt every question, painstakingly printing out her answers with the least amount of spilled ink possible, but she doubts she’s managed anything near a passing grade.   
  
After that, Professor Snape tells them to read the first three chapters each of  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Magical Drafts and Potions, _ and  _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ before their class on Friday before briskly dismissing them with no time for questions. It’s a lot of homework, and even Malfoy, who’d been bragging that Professor Snape was his godfather and had been giving Malfoy private tutoring all summer, is frustrated. He complains loudly all the way back to the Common Room while everyone else ignores him.   
  
Dorothea spends her whole afternoon sitting in a courtyard on the second floor with Pansy, both of them doggedly working through  _ Magical Drafts and Potions _ by  _ Arsenius Jigger _ . After such a poor showing today, Thea can’t afford to be caught out so badly again. She takes messy notes on a scrap of parchment and tries to memorise ingredient reactions and stirring patterns. 

Potions is an odd combination of chemistry and cooking. 

_ Maybe she can ask Dudley for advice? _ He’s the best cook in their family. Or rather, she  _ could _ , if he wasn’t still ignoring her - Dorothea sent several letters and even called Smeltings on the landline in the week before she left for Hogwarts, and Dudley hadn’t replied once.   
  


⌘

They have Astronomy at midnight every Tuesday. Thea and a couple of others take Prefect Farley’s advice, and eat dinner promptly at 5:30 that evening before heading back to their dorms.

Thea sprawls on her bed to take a nap, and is woken by Pansy’s alarm barely half an hour before they have to be ready. A few light stretches to remove the stiffness in her body, a moment to wash her face, and then she’s scooping up her satchel and meeting the others in the Common Room. One of the sixth-year Prefects leads them to the Astronomy tower. 

Professor Sinistra shows them how to use their telescopes and they spend a peaceful hour pointing out the constellations and planets they can recognise to each other while Professor Sinistra occasionally interjects with her own fun facts. Apart from the late hour it’s soothingly normal, no wand-waving in sight.   
  
The same Prefect collects them promptly at one o’clock and hurries them back to bed with a light-hearted comment about ‘ickle firsties needing their sleep’.

⌘

Thea wakes up again at six with Pansy’s alarm chiming, and groans. She dozes for another hour before hauling herself out of bed and through her easiest stretching routine. She’s showered, dressed and stumbling blearily into the Common Room just in time for their escort. 

Most of the other first-year Slytherins look equally tired. Theodore Nott is in danger of dropping face-first into his porridge, and Tracey Davis looks ready to go back to bed. Pansy is cheerfully awake, bright-eyed and bushy tailed. At Thea’s tired expression, Pansy eagerly lists off a string of cosmetic charms and magical skincare products with a very  _ Slytherin _ quip about appearances being part of power.   
Malfoy cuts in that connections are more important, and then a second-year adds that building a power base without relying on others is important. Soon, half of Slytherin is debating methods of gaining and keeping power. Five different students recommend about eight different ways to achieve their ambitions, and the whole thing spirals as Thea watches, wide-eyed. The Slytherin reserve and elegance has gone out the window.

Eventually, it winds down, and the first-years all venture off to the Hogwarts Library as the first period begins - they have a free hour, and before breakfast the Slytherin Prefects had firmly ‘encouraged’ them to get onto their homework before it began to pile up.   
  


⌘

Thea manages a messy, ink-stained draft of her Herbology essay, which is decent but barely legible, and moves onto the Potions reading. She makes it through a chapter of  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _ before they have to get to History of Magic, guided by a random fourth-year Slytherin and their Ravenclaw friend who were also in the library.

History of Magic is spent again reading the textbook and making notes, though Thea finds herself staring out the window more often than not. Binn’s droning voice does  _ not _ make an active learning environment.   
  
After the montonus lecture in History, Transfiguration is a wake-up call. Their double period yesterday had been spent going over the syllabus and doing boring introductory bits and pieces. Now, they start to perform actual magic, turning matchsticks into needles. 

Pansy excels immediately, though the rest of them struggle through the hour with little progress. Neville shrinks into himself more and more with each failure, and Thea reminds him that no one else has managed much either. Pansy smirks and tosses her hair before dropping the act to give them tips.    
  


⌘

Lunch is, as always, filled with idle chatter. Blaise and Millicent trade light-hearted insults, Thea and Pansy plot to redecorate their dorm room, and Theodore Nott banters with one of his cousins in second-year.   
  


After lunch they have their theoretical Astronomy double, looking at star charts and learning about the solar system. They name the planets and their moons and learn the zodiac constellations. It’s easy for Thea - she did this last year in a Science unit in primary - but she notices her magical yearmates struggling with the subject. Maybe growing up in a magical family isn’t always an advantage?

  
The afternoon is again spent doing homework. Thea finishes the required chapters of  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _ and moves on to the DADA reading. She might dislike Quirrell, but it just wouldn’t  _ do _ to completely fail a subject.   
Then, Dorothea finally finishes her stilted letter home - talking about her Sorting and new friends, and emphasising the normal parts of Hogwarts. She sticks to regular subjects that could theoretically exist at a Muggle school - Astronomy, History and Herbology - and ignores the others. She even puts in a footnote about Harry’s Sorting into Gryffindor. 

A friendly sixth year Hufflepuff with lemon-yellow hair and warm copper skin guides her to the Owlery and shows her how to send a letter with a school owl.   
  


⌘

On Thursday morning, Thea is finally able to sit with Lily at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. Though they’ve shared a handful of classes, they haven’t been able to catch up properly, and Dorothea misses her friend.    
After a quick hug, Thea’s welcomed to a seat, right next to Lily and the other first-year Ravenclaws.   
Lily flips her cobalt-blue headscarf to lie on top of her robes as she introduces Thea to some of her housemates - Anthony Goldstein, the pale-skinned boy with the curly brown hair who shared their boat for the ride across the lake. Padma Patil, a quiet brown girl who wears her thick black hair in twin braids, and Terry Boot, a bubbly boy with tawny gold skin and close-cropped black hair. Hermione’s there as well, the black girl glowing with contentment in her new House. 

Thea’s happy for her friends, tentative and new as these friendships may be. She greets each of the Ravenclaws in turn with the now-normal bow, hand on her forehead. They talk about classes and the different attitudes of their Houses, and their families, and the schools they attended before Hogwarts.Thea is called back to the Slytherin table by Prefect Nott just in time to be escorted to class - a double period of Charms.

Charms is the same as Tuesday - practical spell-casting broken up by short lectures from Professor Flitwick. The wizard’s sheer enthusiasm for the subject shines through in every word, and Thea finds herself enjoying the magical class. In Herbology they learn to care for a handful of non-magical herbs and are introduced to Dittany, an all-purpose magical healing herb.

Lunch is short, as they have to scrub off the dirt from Herbology and swap their school books out for the next class before they can even get to the Great Hall. They dig into their food and make idle small talk, annoying the older students with endless questions about classes. 

History is a nice break, and Thea continues to work her way through  _ A History of Magic _ . Their lesson is interrupted halfway through by Peeves, who cackles and pelts them with bits of chalk before being chased off by the Bloody Baron. Dorothea’s never been more happy to see her House ghost, a dour wizard who spends most of his time looming in dark corners of the Common Room. For her free period, Thea elects to go for a walk around the lake. On her way back into the castle she runs into Harry and the Gryffindors from the train - Dean Thomas and Ron Weasley - and the third-year Weasleys, twins Fred and George. They chat for a few moments, though Harry looks as awkward as Thea feels talking to her usually-shunned cousin. Ron expresses trepidation about their first Potions class on Friday morning, and Thea tells them about the mountain of reading Professor Snape’s already assigned, while his brothers try to reassure him with tales of all the House points they’ve personally lost in Potions.

Back in the Slytherin Common Room, Thea slogs through yet more homework - the first three chapters of  _ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them _ , painstakingly rewriting her Transfiguration notes until they’re readable, and dashing off a few short paragraphs about correct telescop procedure for Astronomy.   
  
⌘   
  
Finally, it’s Friday. Thea’s actually beginning to recognise the route from Slytherin to the Great Hall, which is good for her wavering confidence surrounding both her place in the magical world and in Hogwarts specifically.

Their first class on Friday morning is double Potions with Gryffndor, which promises to be a nightmare - two Houses that historically do not get along, paired with a teacher infamous for taking House points on a whim, set in the volatile environment of a Potions lab.   
Class starts of well, with Professor Snape’s entrancing speech about the purpose of potions, but quickly gets messy - Professor Snape seems to hold a grudge against Harry, asking him rapid-fire questions about random topics, and taking points from Gryffindor for every minor infraction. 

They brew a Boil Cure potion, which at least goes off without a hitch - Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had had their first Potions class on Wednesday afternoon, and Thea had visited Neville in the hospital wing after his potion went painfully wrong (though thankfully the school nurse healed him up by dinnertime). Malfoy preens as Professor Snape compliments his “ _ perfect _ ” potion, and Thea glares at him. Her own Boil Cure potion is generally the correct colour and consistency, but she won’t be winning any brewing prizes just yet. 

Coming second-best to a prat like Malfoy grates on her, and she can see something similar in several expressions around the room. Thea has a strong sense of competition anda distinct need to be the  _ best _ , which she’s fully aware of, having been complimented on it all through primary school by parents and teachers alike. She’s immediately determined to get better at Potions as soon as possible.

⌘

  
After Potions they have Defence, this time with Hufflepuff. Professor Quirrell has decided to be proactive and splits them into pairs to do a pop quiz. Thea ends up with a pureblooded Hufflepuff called Susan Bones, a steady girl with white skin and blonde hair the exact same shade as Thea’s own. They work together easily enough, bouncing ideas off each other and answering all the questions on the sheet.

Thea sits at the Hufflepuff table for lunch, chatting with Neville about some of the prettier magical plants in  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _ . Neville loves talking about Herbology, and Thea saw the book's illustration for Singing Violets (magical violets which come in an array of pastel colours and sing soothing lullabies at dusk) and just had to know more.

After lunch, she ends up relaxing with a mixed group of her friends on the shores of the lake, Lily and Anthony sit nearby, heads bent over a book on seasonal and time based magic, while Dean Thomas and Susan Bones are drawing increasingly ridiculous caricatures of the teachers in Dean’s sketchbook. Thea and Millicent, the only other Slytherin who seemed chill enough to come, braid each other’s hair and speculate about Flying lessons, which next week.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stop by to say hi before trotting off to visit Hagrid, the school gamekeeper and the one who’d guided them across the lake on their first night. Hagrid apparently bought Harry his owl, knew him as a baby, and wanted to talk to him because he knew his parents, or something? (there was a lot of information in Ron’s babble as they passed and Thea didn’t catch all of it).   
  
⌘   
  
Pansy and Thea both sleep in until eight o’clock on Saturday morning.

After a brief breakfast, Dorothea packs a bag with her dance gear and goes exploring. Thea needs a proper studio to practice in - she won't let magic take her ballet away from her along with the rest of her  _ normal _ life.

Most of the rooms in Hogwarts are classrooms, stone floored rooms filled with battered wooden desks or empty bookshelves, but there are a myriad of other forgotten rooms - Thea stumbles upon bathrooms with archaic plumbing, a room entirely filled with various breeds of stuffed birds, several different music rooms, and even a Roman-style amphitheatre, several stories tall and built entirely out of pure white marble. It should not possibly exist in the amount of space it has, but of course it does.  _ Wixen and their magical buildings _ .

  
Thea finds several abandoned dance studios of different ages and styles, all in stages of disrepair. Eventually, she chooses a large room on the seventh floor. It’s clearly designed for ballet, with a smooth wooden floor, a barre, and mirrors lining two of the walls. A skylight, which again, should  _ not _ be there, fills the room with natural light. It’s dusty and one corner is home to several years worth of ballet studio clutter - broken equipment, old leotards, discarded pointe shoes, and crumbling sheet music - and another houses a grand piano that can only be described as  _ exhausted _ , but these are things Thea can fix.   
Later. Right now, she wants to dance.   
  
⌘

  
Thea moves through an hour of stretches before she starts her ballet drills. She misses dance class already. 

By lunchtime, she’s gone through every single piece of choreography she knows, twice. Thea pulls on sweats and a jumper over her practice gear and makes the long trek down to the dungeons. A shower and change of clothes later - she pulls on her enchanted flower sweater over her usual dress shirt/slacks combo - and she’s at lunch with the rest of her house. 

Pansy’s eager to know where she went, but subsides when she learns Thea was dancing. Thea’s noticed Slytherin House values privacy to the extreme, and asking anything outside of polite and generic questions is considered passé.

Thea spends her afternoon with her yearmates in a corner of the Common Room, sipping hot chocolate and playing various magical games. They play Exploding Snap, magical chess, and Gobstones, and regular card games with a set of self-shuffling playing cards.

Malfoy is brutal at Gobstones, and Crabbe repeatedly beats the entire first and second year at Exploding Snap, while Theo and Tracey play several vicious matches of chess. It’s fun, to hang out with everyone and relax, after a week of magical classwork and confusing homework on topics Dorothhea never encountered at her nice, normal primary school.

⌘

On Sunday, Thea’s morning is occupied by homework. She, Blaise, Millicent and Pansy all hole up in the library to finish off their various assignments and readings, sharing wizarding sweets back and forth as they study.

In need of some fresh air, Thea takes a break to walk around the Lake, and is suitably surprised when a post owl finds her there. The tawny owl carries a letter from her parents, and Thea opens it with hesitation.  _ Do they still love her? _ _   
_ Maybe they do. Mum’s penmanship is jerky, and some of the ink has run from water damage, but concern shines through. Mum offers a few words about the weather and her garden and how Dudley is doing at Smeltings and Dad compliments her perseverance and encourages her to do well in  _ sensible _ subjects like history.

⌘

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did originally plan to make this longer, but it just felt like a natural cut off point, so I’m trying to get the next chapter out soon.
> 
> -
> 
> St. Austell is the largest town in Cornwall
> 
> Fun fact - ‘to rack one’s brain’ and ‘to wrack one's brain’ are both actual phrases meaning the same thing, but ‘rack’ is the technically correct one (i googled this bcs i wrote ‘wrack’ and then got suspicious and stared at it for like ten minutes during editing).
> 
> Not sure if I’ll go into such detail about classes and stuff ever again cos it was getting a little tedious to write by the end, but I wanted to lay out all the first impressions and budding relationships going on. Plus wordbuilding, yay!
> 
> Professor Snape is frickin complicated to write. I don’t want to woobify him into a misunderstood angel who’s cruelty can be entirely blamed on his tragic past, but I don’t think I can write him as ‘explicitly an asshole to small children’ the way he is in canon.  
> So, instead, we get - stern, a little bit of a sadist but trying to reign it in, and definitely angsty and fucked up about his role in the war and his dead ex-best friend. Also a little bit of his nastiness is a symptom of ptsd - irritability, anger and general emotional hyperarousal are common symptoms, esp. in men - not that this excuses the whole ‘regularly bullying vulnerable students in your care’ though.
> 
> young!Draco Malfoy is,,,uh, not popular in Slytherin because a) he constantly goes on about how awesome his dad is b) he’s eleven so basically nobody older than him cares about his opinion and c) he’s not subtle or cunning, both of which are prized traits in Slytherin.   
> He’ll get over it and develop a personality soon, I do want him to become three dimensional instead of the flat antagonist he is for the first few books of canon.
> 
> Our friendly sixth year Hufflepuff who takes Thea to the Owlery is actually Tonks! I made her a year or so younger than in canon so there could be some sweet sweet bonding with the cast of firsties, because Thea needs more acquaintances and Harry needs not-terrible relatives.
> 
> According to the wiki Susan Bones is a half-blood but eh.
> 
> My interpretations of the canon characters are definitely inspired by Shanastoryteller’s fic 'survival is a talent', especially Pansy’s attitude towards Transfiguration (lol) and the general “they’re not irreedemable assholes or super prodigies they’re eleven” vibes i’m trying to go for.   
> I'm not putting this as an actual 'inspired by' cos golden girl isn't a derivative fanwork of siat itself, but I wanted to mention it.  
> go read it, it's great: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12006417/chapters/27167826


	5. Unsafe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which magical school turns out to be more dangerous than Thea realised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rather than stress about having all the side characters be completely like their canon counterparts, I settled for 'canon, but slightly to the left', giving people who were antagonists in canon (and therefore not given the same development) hobbies and interests and making everyone more complex.
> 
> so - Dudley cooks, Professor Snape is a morally grey war veteran with a whole lot of trauma, Petunia Dursley collects fancy teacups and secretly loves pop music, Draco currently wants to be a professional Quidditch player, Vernon Dursley regularly plays rugby and was a boxer in his youth (here i also wanted to move away from the fat=evil shorthand Rowling uses in canon which is :/). etc.

The second week flows by more quickly than the first.   
  


On Monday, in Herbology, Thea gets an Acceptable on her introductory essay, and they carefully water a Venomous Tentacula, dodging the grasping vines.

  
In their extra Potions class on Tuesday, they learn how to boil water in their cauldrons, Professor Snape explaining how to control the cauldron flame and change the temperature with his usual neutral expression and bored monotone.   
Then, he hands back their tests from the previous week and reprimands them for poor performance in a far harsher tone, throwing in a few cutting comments about how he “expects better from Slytherins” for good measure. 

Dorothea’s test is drowning in red ink, and her grade is T, for ‘Troll’, with a note under it that reads ‘detention: Wednesday 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm.’ 

She scowls down at her paper, distracted only as Professor Snape assigns them more reading - two chapters each of  _ One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi _ and _ Magical Drafts and Potions _ .   
_ Ugghhhhh, more homework _ , Thea grumbles to herself. The required length for essays is a lot shorter than she’s used to, but the amount of reading is ridiculous!

Astronomy late that night is a welcome distraction, and Thea quickly loses herself in the stars, listening intently to Professor Sinistra as she identifies constellations and recites the Greek myths surrounding them.

⌘   
  
Wednesday’s classes are routine, a History of Magic period spent reading her book under the table, and another Transfiguration class devoted to transfiguring matchsticks into needles. (With Pansy’s help, Thea achieves a needle-shaped matchstick, with an eyehole of the correct proportions). In their double Astronomy class, they begin an in-depth research project exploring stories about the stars across other cultures, starting with the Greek myths from the night before.

  
Thea’s dreaded detention is actually tolerable  _ and _ educational. Thea, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe (the only ones to have done so badly), take careful notes while Professor Snape lectures on basic ingredient reactions, and then practice chopping, dicing, slicing and mincing on normal potatoes. Dorothea’s beginning to feel hopeful, until Professor Snape declares they will retake the test at the end of next week. Anything less than an Acceptable will have…  _ consequences _ . 

His tone is ominous, and Thea does not want to find out what the consequences will be.  _ Probably detention scrubbing cauldrons for the rest of the term, _ she thinks with cynicism. _   
  
_

⌘

Thursday morning dawns bright and clear, and Thea’s up with Pansy’s alarm, going through her stretching routine and basic ballet drills as usual.   
  


Breakfast is… well. 

Draco Malfoy insults people the entire time ( _ Potter’s going to fall off his broom,  _ Longbottom’s so useless Hooch won’t let him fly, _ Granger and Dean Thomas are stupid Mudblo- Muggleborns _ ). He continues complaining about their yearmates, even as the older students begin to scowl at the  _ uppity first-year _ interrupting their breakfast.

Finally, Pansy cuts him off with a scathing remark about respecting one’s peers, and Draco shuts up, pale face flushed with embarrassment. When he goes to ‘casually’ meander over to the Hufflepuff table, mischief glinting in his eyes, Dorothea manages a pointed comment about propriety and ‘the correct manners of a pureblood heir’. Honestly, she’s making up complete, spur-of-the-moment bullshit, but she’s been to enough High Teas with her mother to understand the way these people think, and she already knows appearances are incredibly important to the magical elite.

⌘

  
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw have their first Flying lesson that morning, while the Slytherin first-years have Charms.   
In Herbology, Thea listens to Lily and Hermione recount their experience - Hermione’s a little scared of heights, but determined to master this magical skill, while Lily enjoys flying but prefers carpets to broomsticks. Apparently Neville fell and sprained his wrist before he could even get on his broom, but the school nurse fixed him up in a heartbeat and he’s perfectly fine now.   
  


In History of Magic, they all gossip about their upcoming Flying class, anticipation thick in the air. Dorothea’s classmates share outlandish tales of their previous adventures on broomsticks, while Professor Binns drones on without a care in the world. Half of them are clearly exaggerated, tales of near-misses with helicopters and dragons that Dorothea easily dismisses. Perhaps if her pureblood classmates had more experience with the  _ normal _ world, they’d be able to lie better, she thinks with a smirk. Still, the idea of flying is intoxicating, and Thea’s excitement mounts as the hour passes.

⌘

By the time they’re all gathered on the Quidditch Pitch, Thea’s rethinking her excitement. She’d been caught up in everyone else’s glee, but flying via broomstick is an alarming concept - going high in the air with only a piece of wood and some twigs for support? It’s not  _ normal _ , nor does it sound the slightest bit safe.   
Plus, putting Slytherin and Gryffindor together for this seems like a terrible idea, just as putting them in the same Potions hour was.

Still, for the first half an hour, everything goes off without a hitch. They summon their brooms with a command, something Dorothea has no problem with, and then learn to mount. Madam Hooch has to repeatedly correct both Draco and Harry’s grip while Thea and Pansy share a smug look. Then, one by one, they each fly a handful of feet off the ground and down again as Madam Hooch watches like a hawk.    
Once Hooch deems them safe enough, they’re sent off in staggered groups to fly a few laps around the Quidditch Pitch. Dorothea straggles behind, still adjusting to the weirdness, while Malfoy grumbles about Madame Hooch correcting his grip, and Harry zooms around them, Ron trailing behind. 

⌘

Thea’s starting to get the hang of it, tentatively catching up to Millicent, when Blaise yelps.

And then Blaise’s broom is jerking wildly, and he’s pale with fear as his twisting broom climbs higher and higher, bucking from side-to-side as it tries to unseat its rider. Blaise screams, a long, high note of pure terror as his broom rolls beneath him again.  _ He’s going to fall! _   
  
Millicent quickly corrals the Slytherins to circle carefully below Blaise, acting as a safety net, while the Gryffindors obey Madam Hooch and gather on the ground. They all strain to see what their teacher will do.   
Madam Hooch has her wand out is chanting a long stream of Latin, shimmering strands of charcoal grey magic floating around her.

“Hel-” 

Blaise’s scream is cut off by a loud  _ crack _ as his broom breaks for good. He tumbles through the air in slow motion, colliding with the interlocked arms of the waiting Slytherins. For a split second, it seems they’ve caught him, and Thea relaxes minutely… until his impact knocks everyone off balance, and their human safety net disintegrates mid-air.   
Dorothea’s vision is obscured by a swirl of black Hogwarts robes as she falls, her broom spinning away towards the ground.   
  


_ Thump! _ _   
_ Impact. Air whooshes out of her lungs. Thea’s arm crunches under the weight of her body, and darkness takes over her vision.   
  


⌘

A lot of panicked yelling, a trip to the Hospital Wing and several spells and potions later, and they have a collection of diagnoses and the company of their Heads of House. 

Dorothea, Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil were all injured in the fall, the trio of Slytherins having collided with the two unfortunate Gryffindors on impact.

They all have minor concussions, Blaise has a fractured leg from landing awkwardly, Draco has broken several fingers on his left hand and gained a painful collection of splinters from his broomstick, Lavender has a dislocated shoulder where Dorothea struck her as she fell, and Parvati is out cold with a nasty head injury. Thea herself has a broken left arm and a fractured right wrist from trying (and failing) to cushion her landing. 

Madam Hooch’s magical net had caught them briefly, but the spell couldn’t support the weight of three young wixen for longer than a moment. Plus, the magic of basically every Slytherin and Gryffindor first-year had been going haywire with fear and anxiety, which did not make it easy to maintain anything more complex than a  _ Lumos _ .

Professor’s Snape and McGonagall reassure them that they are in good hands, and Dorothea manages to obtain a promise from Professor Snape not to notify her parents. If her Mum and Dad heard about this they’d pull her from Hogwarts in a heartbeat, and Thea remembers the discussion she had with Professor Black, weeks ago - Hogwarts attendance is mandatory for Muggleborns, and she doesn’t want to find out the consequences for ignoring  _ that _ law.

  
Then, she sleeps.

⌘

Mere moments after Dorothea Dursley wakes from her magically-induced nap, the theatrics kick into full gear. 

A group of various adults are berating Headmaster Dumbledore, in full view of the entire Hospital Wing. Among them, Dorothea spots a white wizard with pale blond hair, whose pointy face bears a distinct resemblance to Malfoy’s, and a black witch who equally resembles Blaise, nose and eyes and all. Thea can also see the school nurse and Madam Hooch herself getting involved, which is a shock. 

It’s dark outside, so several hours must have passed, and Thea wonders how long it took to notify the parents - when she’d broken her nose on the playground at primary school, her Mum had been there as soon as possible, and she doubts magical families are any different - from the way Malfoy talks, his father smothers him with attention rather than letting him develop his independence. (Thea carefully does not think about how similar  _ her _ parents are in this regard).

Whatever defence Dumbledore has come up with is deemed insufficient, and he’s argued out of the infirmary by the collection of pureblood wixen - Malfoy’s father can be heard snarling that he’ll have Dumbledore sacked, while Blaise’s mother promises that she will pursue legal action in a deceptively calm tone.   
The collection of first-years hear no more on the matter that night, though Dorothea has the feeling they  _ will _ hear more about it later. None of those wixen looked like they’d let the matter go easily.

⌘   
  


Madam Pomfrey turns out to be a qualified magical Healer, rather than a simple school nurse, and she’s able to mend their broken bones in moments. However, she still keeps them all in the Hospital Wing through Friday and the weekend too, under careful observation.   
Dorothea’s arms are mended quickly, as is Blaise’s leg and Lavender Brown’s shoulder, but    
Parvati Patil’s head injury requires extended magical healing, and Malfoy’s broken fingers are still fragile.

There’s not much to do in the Hospital Wing - visitors are allowed only for a scant twenty minutes each morning and evening, and catching up on homework can only take up so much time. Still, Dorothea makes a concerted effort, ploughing steadily through her reading for all her classes, and practicing calligraphy with a quill until her fingers ache.  
She receives frantic letters from her Mum, her Dad, Dudley, Aunt Marge, all asking about her health and begging her to come home for the winter holidays. _Someone must have told them what happened._ _But who?_ Headmaster Dumbledore? Harry? One of her friends? None of those options seem likely. _  
_There are more letters, too, attached to the one from her Mum, and from practically everyone Dorothea knows. Sarita, Rosie and Delilah have all sent letters, too - Mum must have alerted half the bloody _neighbourhood_.  
  
So, Thea reads through her letters, enjoys the bounty of ‘get well soon’ sweets, and chats with her fellow invalids. 

Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil make good company, and Thea’s overjoyed to find more friends who value the  _ important _ things in life, like fashion and makeup and carefully coordinated outfits. Malfoy is more subdued than usual, which makes him infinitely more tolerable to be around, while Blaise is his normal, bright, and talkative self.

  
With not much else to do, they all spend a lot of time getting to know one another, and finding things they have in common:    
Lavender and Parvati are already close friends, while Malfoy and Blaise at least knew each other before Hogwarts, but there’s a lot of distance between them. As the weekend slides by,   
Blaise plays chess with Draco, while Lavender debates magical law with anyone who’ll join in, and speaks Italian with Blaise. Parvati banters back and forth with Draco and talks about the use of potions in magical fashion. Thea shares a love for Astronomy with Blaise and bothers Draco with questions about Potions.

And, Dorothea listens as the others talk about the magical world, pretending she understands every word, and collecting pieces of information, assembling them into a mental jigsaw puzzle of magical society. Different customs for purebloods and half-bloods and muggleborns, politics in the “ _ Wizengamot _ ”, shopping in Diagon Alley, mentions of schools like Hogwarts all across Europe. Dorothea absorbs all of it, and contributes her own carefully phrased half-truths - catching the Knight Bus, growing up in a non-magical suburb, and claiming a distant connection to the Potter family. 

She sends a school owl off with her shiny new subscriptions to  _ The Daily Prophet, Witch Weekly _ and  _ The Quibbler _ , and devours the latest editions. Normal reading may be boring, but the magical newspapers have pictures that  _ move _ and adverts that sing tinny jingles from the page. It’s the most fun Thea has had reading in  _ forever _ .   
  


The others complain endlessly about schoolwork while Thea hides a baffled expression - a foot or two on unlined parchment is a whole lot less than she’d be writing if she was in normal school, that's for sure. (There it would be several pages of neat, small writing crammed onto lined paper, and even more for end-of-year exams). 

⌘

On Sunday afternoon, Professor Snape appears and asks to speak to Thea privately. A complex wand movement later, and they’re surrounded by an opaque bubble - a privacy ward.

Snape explains that he’d gone to visit her home, after her frantic, drugged rambling and the odd promise she’d asked of him, concerned about her home life. 

(Thea scowls at that - she’s not a freak like Harry,  _ her _ parents  _ love _ her. ( _ Don’t they? _ ))

Yet, that brief sentence only leaves Dorothea more confused as Snape asks her about her family.    
Still perturbed, Thea haltingly explains about her non-magical parents, and nice, normal extended family, and her faked half-blood identity, hoping that he won’t reveal the truth to anyone else. She’d be  _ so _ screwed if the older, more prejudiced Slytherins caught on.

  
And as Professor Snape’s usual blank expression becomes a frown, she begins to understand the possible link.    
Because, Professor Snape recognised her mother’s maiden name, and the Evans side of Dorothea’s family still have a house in Cokeworth. And Dorothea’s heard some of the rumours about Professor Snape’s origins (she likes the vampire one best, honestly). One of them was that Snape was the hidden heir to some pureblood bloodline, which Thea rather doubts, and that he grew up in a tiny town somewhere in the midlands, which is plausible enough. And Severus Snape and Petunia Evans Dursley are roughly the same age.   
So, her Mum _ could  _ have known _ Professor Snape _ as a kid _?!?? _ _   
  
_

Thea turns this possibility over in her mind as her Head of House confirms the facts about her family. His questions are awkward and wooden, but he seems serious about making sure her home life is alright, and cares, in an awkward, unpracticed way, about her wellbeing.

Finally, after confirming that she’s safe, he blandly informs Thea that she should claim relation to the Prince family line, and sweeps out of the room.   
  


_ What? _ That was the oddest part of that conversation, to be honest. Her Head of House wanted to confirm that her home life was suitable, which is at least probably important as he’s in charge of her while at Hogwarts, but he then  _ offered to  _ corroborate _ her ruse of being a halfblood? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Why? _ Because he’s  _ possibly _ acquainted with her mother? Because he thinks it’s a good prank? Because he feels responsible for her as a Slytherin?   
  


And that other part?

  
Is Professor Snape related to the Princes somehow? Or friends with the current Head or Heir of the family? He seemed very sure that she could pretend to be related without issue, so he must know  _ something _ .   
  


Dorothea doesn’t have enough information to discern Snape’s motive, but she may as well use his suggestion - it’ll add a dimension to her current faux-bloodline, and it’s worth a shot, right?   
  


⌘

They’re let out of the Infirmary late on Sunday. Draco’s hand is strapped up, and Blaise is using what seems to be a magical wheelchair, though rather than wheels, it hovers with a shimmer of honey-gold magic. 

Apparently, while magical healing is  _ very _ good, rest and time are still required.    
  
They’re escorted back to their common rooms, saying a brief goodbye to the Gryffindors before they leave. The Slytherins hold a small party to welcome them back - Butterbeer and pumpkin pie and the best seats in the Common Room (the cushions in front of the fire) for the guests of honour. 

Dorothea’s just happy to sleep in her own bed.

⌘

Monday’s classes are a peaceful return to routine.   
Double Herbology with Ravenclaw, in which they learn to fertilize and water different breeds of non-magical flowers.   
A free period, spent in the Common Room, studying  _ again _ . This is the hardest Dorothea’s ever worked in her life - she was decent at school back at Little Whinging Primary, but not a swot. If the homework was too hard, she’d just bully Harry into doing it for her, or complain to her parents until they helped.

  
Now, Dorothea slogs through their assigned reading at a slow, steady pace and devotes most of her spare time to homework. And yet her grades remain  _ Poors, _ with a few Acceptables earned by the skin of her teeth. 

It’s infuriating. 

Dorothea Dursley will  _ not _ be second-best.

⌘

  
In Transfiguration Thea forces herself to take extensive notes, and casts every spell over and over, hoping determination can make up for lack of talent.

In Defence, she practices wand movements and transcribes Professor Quirrells’ every word, Slytherin scarf wrapped around her mouth and nose to block the cloying smell of garlic and formaldehyde that pervades the DADA classroom.  _ Is Quirrell keeping preserved specimens in his study for the older students? Or is he just  _ that _ afraid of vampires? _ _   
  
_

In Astronomy, Thea draws diagrams with unfamiliar precision. In Potions, she treats Professor Snape’s instructions like gospel and double-checks each step. In History of Magic, she ignores Professor Binns’ somnolent drone to read her textbooks - she stumbles through  _ A History of Magic  _ and even checks out  _ Hogwarts, A History _ from the school library - and takes notes.   
  
The remedial Potions detentions continue, on top of regular Friday Potions and the extra Slytherin class. Thea practices her quill-work and writes essay after essay, poring over ingredient qualities and stirring patterns until her eyes bleed. Professor Snape expects nothing less than competence in his Slytherins.   
  


⌘

  
Politics happen out in the adult magical world, and Flying lessons return. Blaise’s mother, Chiara Zabini, was successful in her pursuit of legal action, and Headmaster Dumbledore has apparently been demoted from his position as ‘Chief Warlock’ of the Wizengamot. (This means absolutely nothing to Dorothea, but according to Pansy, it’s a very important position, and his replacement, Fatoumata Kama, is from ‘a good pureblood family’).    
  


The new Flying classes are different - the ancient school broomsticks are replaced by a fleet of new brooms, each a steady and reliable Cleansweep Six. A handful of players from the lesser professional-league Quidditch teams volunteer their time to help Madam Hooch supervise, and some sort of mass cushioning spell is cast over the Quidditch Pitch. The next Flying lessons are much safer (and better managed) than before.   
  


⌘

Dorothea slowly settles in at Hogwarts.

  
Weeks pass, filled with ballet and schoolwork and friendship - letters from her non-magical friends and family, magical games and studying with her school friends.  
  
Dorothea joins the Astronomy club and hangs out with her Slytherin yearmates and even spends the occasional half-hour with her cousin, visiting Hagrid or playing Exploding Snap. She reaches out to Ron Weasley over their shared interest in baking, and a few games of magical chess, and gets to know Hermione better too - Thea and Hermione had exchanged a handful of letters during the summer, but not hung out much while at Hogwarts. The pair of them bond over their shared non-magical backgrounds, complaining about the odd magical grading standards and eagerly discussing the intersections of magical and non-magical history for _hours_.  
  


⌘

The end of summer quickly becomes autumn. Pumpkin pie appears frequently on the dessert tables at dinner and frost settles on the window panes of the classrooms. Anthony celebrates an array of Jewish holidays within the space of a month, especially enamoured with the magical Hogwarts  _ sukkah _ . Extra candles are tucked into every spare nook to brighten the halls, and enchanted jack o'lanterns float through the school. The pagan purebloods celebrate Mabon and chatter eagerly about their favourite parts of Samhain and Yule. The teachers hand out sweets to any student who gets good marks, and one of the outdoor ponds becomes a charmed ice-skating rink. Lily commemorates the birth of some Muslim prophet as autumn creeps ever further onwards. Thea has to cut her usual ballet practices down, exchanging choreo practice for extra stretches, layered in thermal jumpers and thick leggings to keep her warm.   
  


Halloween draws closer and closer. The Halloween Feast is supposed to be one of the best parts of the year, though Dorothea is a little sceptical of that. Halloween isn’t even a popular magical holiday, as far as she can tell, just something Dumbledore’s introduced in recent years - half the pureblood students complain about not being able to celebrate Samhain properly, and the students of other faiths range between ‘happy to eat good food and relax’ to ‘actively annoyed at having to celebrate a holiday they don’t care about’.    
Lily and Anthony are both fairly ambivalent about Halloween, but they (and all of the other first-years)  _ are _ excited for the Feast and the individual House parties being arranged. Thea’s excited to try out all the magical sweets she can lay her hands on, and she’s already arranged to send some to Dudley at Smeltings. Hopefully her brother will finally start talking to her again - after that one concerned note when she was hurt in Flying class, there’s been nothing but silence.   
  


⌘

The morning of Halloween is the coldest yet.   
Cold white winter light shines in the Slytherin common room, changing into jewel-bright colours as it streams through the stained glass windows. The fire roars in the hearth, and every candle is light despite it being daytime. Dorothea and Pansy trot down for breakfast early, eager for warm hot chocolate and friendly company. The older students tell tales of past Halloween Feast’s and gossip about the holidays they celebrate with their families, while Thea and her yearmates listen in awe.    
  
Their classes start off with double Charms, where a cheerful Professor Flitwick encourages them to get creative with their Levitation Charms. Theo Nott gets five points for Slytherin and a chocolate frog for being able to precisely float his feather through an obstacle course, while Dorothea settles for attacking Pansy with hers, inciting an all-out tickle-war.   
In Herbology, they huddle in the warmth of Greenhouse One and take notes on how magic affects seasonal plant growth. History of Magic is the same as usual - an endless struggle to stay awake, while Flying is cancelled because of preparations for the Halloween Feast.   
  
Instead, Thea and her friends resolve to make good use of their free period. They pile into a spare classroom on the fifth floor, bringing with them whatever blankets and pillow they can purloin from their own Common Rooms. Hermione fills glass jars with vivid blue flames, which are warm and bright without burning, and Blaise appears from nowhere with trays of hot drinks (though he puts on an air of mystery when Thea asks where he got them from).   
They relax, enjoying the festive mood and each other’s company - a laughing Lily teaches Millicent and Pansy the basics of  _ khaleegy _ , while Dean plays magical chess against himself. Dorothea knits a scarf, and Neville sketches plants and flowers in his notebook. Anthony reads the latest issue of the Daily Prophet aloud with Blaise, both of them making derisive comments under their breath. Frankly, Thea agrees - the journalistic standards of the magical world are terribly low compared to the  _ normal _ newspapers.    
They’re all cosy and content.

⌘   
  
As dinner time draws closer, they parade eagerly down the stairs for their very first Halloween Feast. It’s as impressive as expected - an array of wonderful foods, overflowing dishes of sweets and bright orange decorations everywhere. Real bats soar above the tables, massive jack ‘o lanterns sing cheerful songs in the corner, and the candles flare with purple flames for the occasion. The tables are filled with dishes from across the world, and Thea loads her plate: roast lamb, roast potatoes, a smattering of broccoli and peas, a huge slice of pumpkin pie and a small mountain of luqaimat. Next to their plates she and Millicent build a wall of chocolate frogs, while Greg Goyle launches an aerial assault of liquorice allsorts in an attempt to topple it. Malfoy and Greengrass compete to blow the largest bubbles with shimmering magical bubblegum, their competition judged by a laughing third-year. 

The doors to the Great Hall swing open with a resounding  _ BANG! _ Interrupting the light-hearted rivalries of Slytherin and the general good cheer. As they turn to look, a figure stumbles through, their wand raised, robes in disarray and dripping with pale green slime. With a start, Dorothea recognises them as one of Ron’s older brothers, the Gryffindor Prefect. The red hair is unmistakable, even thick with muck and grime.   
  
“Professors! Come quickly, there’s a troll!” yells the Weasley boy, his voice raw with terror.    
  
Several students scream in fear at this announcement, while the Professors spill down from the Head Table, grey-faced and serious..

  
“Mr. Weasley, what is the meaning of this?” asks Professor McGonagall in a harsh whisper as she attempts to steer the elder Weasley out of the Hall.   
  
“A troll, it k-killed Professor Quirrell!” Weasley exclaims, too scared to moderate his volume, and the Great Hall erupts into chaos.

⌘

  
Headmaster Dumbledore’s voice booms out across the uproar    
  


“SILENCE!”   
  


A hush falls, each and every student shocked into silence.   
  
“The professors and I will investigate this matter. In the mean, all students will remain in the Great Hall. Prefects, please make sure your House is accounted for.”   
  
Dumbleodre’s calm voice reassures the students, though Dorothea is not convinced. She’s read about trolls in her DADA textbook- they’re massive, resistant to magic, and very  _ very _ dangerous. Their Headmaster sweeps out of the hall, accompanied by Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and Kettleburn. The other staff spread out around the tables, comforting students and speaking with Prefects.   
  
The Feast resumes, but the mood is rather ruined, and they all sit in fearful anticipation. Dorothea’s stomach twists uncomfortably, and she joins the cluster of first- and second-year Slytherins being watched over by the older Prefects.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, a little bit of gritty realism for the flying incident. magic isn't all sunshine and rainbows, it has the possibility for mistakes and injury.
> 
> According to the hp wiki, the venomous tentacula is taught/handled in sixth year  
> However, in the books, the reason the golden trio don’t get strangled by the tentacula is bcs Hermoine remembers learning about it in Herbology ? so??
> 
> That whole conversation with Thea and Snape is a bit of a mess, but i got tired of rewriting it XD 
> 
> Fatoumata Kama, the new chief warlock is an oc (i basically just picked a surname from the wiki’s list of purebloods and googled a relevant first name).  
> I wanted to cut back Dumbledore’s influence a little, it’s ridiculous and suuuuper un-democratic that this one dude has powerful positions in english magical law, education, international magical law, and,,, like, has an order of merlin and is hero-worshipped by half the country.
> 
> Anthony Goldstein is celebrating Sukkot, a Jewish harvest holiday. A sukkah is a temporary booth/shelter that Jewish peeps built for Sukkot, most importantly with a roof made of uprooted plants that you can see the stars through. (Between September-October 1991, there’s also Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah, but I couldn’t fit them all lol)
> 
> Lily is celebrating Eid Milad un Nabi/Mawlid, the birth of the prophet Muhammed. (Her and her mum + her mum’s extended family are Sunni Muslims (the extended family are from Qatar, which doesn’t celebrate bcs the country is officially Salafi Muslim, but ofc the Moon/Mohammed fam aren’t.)
> 
> The troll incident:  
> In this case, the idea is that in canon, the troll looked at Quirrell, an adult wizard who managed to show off enough Defence skills and get a DADA teaching position even with Voldemort in his head, and went nope, because it could sense?/hear?/smell? the vulnerable mini Hermione crying alone a few floors away. So the troll went off to track down Hermione, who was young and untrained and therefore an easy target, which contributed to Quirrell being able to make his dramatic announcement and then faint in the Great Hall.
> 
> Therefore, in this fic: if Hermione is happy and safe with her friends in the Great Hall, no longer an easy target, the troll can only sense a) the Great Hall full of people and trained wixen, and b) Quirrell, a single wizard who’s off-balance ‘cause he’s got Voldemort in his head and is distracted by his grand plan to steal the Stone. The troll goes for Quirrell because he’s an easier target. And Quirrell, for all his skill, is one person, and trolls are very dangerous.
> 
> (theories for Percy Weasley being out and about and witnessing the troll attacking Quirrell include: a) he was meeting up with his gf Penelope b) he was looking for any stray students wandering the halls or c) he was looking for Professor Quirrell to ask him a DADA-related question. Perhaps the real reason is all of the above? Or perhaps not? We may never know… XD) 
> 
> Drop a comment/review below or send me an ask on tumblr @mountain-ash-and-rusted-iron!!  
> (link: https://mountain-ash-and-rusted-iron.tumblr.com/)

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!! please leave a comment, lemme know what you think <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Hogwarts Schedule](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23714092) by [mountain-ash and rusted iron (xAmazonWarriorx)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xAmazonWarriorx/pseuds/mountain-ash%20and%20rusted%20iron)




End file.
